The Bobster
Senior News Editor since 2004
Shocking video captures fatal stabbing over shrimp at NYC fish market
Dramatic footage shows Harlem fishmonger Junior Aquino Hernandez stabbing Malik Burrell on Feb. 21 during a brawl over stolen shrimp at Fish Express Fish Market.
nypost.com
Shocking video captures fatal stabbing over shrimp at NYC fish market
By
Georgett Roberts and
Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
March 16, 2023 6:46pm
Updated
Dramatic surveillance video captured a deadly scuffle over allegedly stolen shrimp inside a Harlem fish market, which left a Manhattan man fatally stabbed and his brother wounded last month.
The footage obtained exclusively by The Post shows Robert “Bobby” Burrell, 29, and his 25-year-old brother, Malik Burrell, brawling with workers at Fish Express Fish Market on Feb. 21, rushing behind the counter and hurling a chair at the employees.
Fishmonger Junior Aquino Hernandez is then seen lunging at the brothers with a knife, repeatedly stabbing the younger Burrell and then his brother as they back out of the store.
Malik Burrell later died from his wounds, while his brother was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Hernandez, 34, was charged with murder in the melee, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg later dropped the charge pending further investigation.
Hernandez, a married father of four who claimed he acted in self-defense, still faces assault charges in the incident and is due back in court on April 4, court records show.
The deadly encounter began when Bobby Burrell entered the store to buy shrimp for a birthday meal, only to get into a dispute with a worker at the fish market.
The surveillance footage shows two employees wrestling with him as he appears to try to leave the store with a bag of shrimp, which he drops on the ground before taking a swing at one worker and fleeing the store.
But the video shows him returning with his younger brother and storming into the store and behind the counter, where the pair is seen hurling a chair and fighting with workers.
Hernandez is then seen stabbing the two with the knife.
Bobby Burrell was charged with assault and burglary in the incident.
His father, Robert Burrell, disputed the claim that his son was trying to steal shrimp.
“I know damn well my sons aren’t stealing nothing,” he said after the incident. “They have money. They have money on their cash app and they had money in their pocket.
“It’s crazy that they say he try to steal.”
The case bore eerie similarities to the July 1 stabbing death of Austin Simon by 61-year-old bodega worker Jose Alba inside a Manhattan bodega.
Alba, who acted in self defense after Simon attacked him behind the counter, was initially charged with murder but prosecutors later dropped the charges.