A Lower East Side merchant went viral on Twitter after he was photographed sweeping up the bloody remnants of a homicide outside his smoke shop.
“I never, ever thought I’d be cleaning up a crime scene,” Mohammad, manager of Rivington Exotics, told The Post.
The 42-year-old manager, who declined to give his last name, said he sat with Eliahs Brazoban for 15 minutes as the young man — who had been shot in the neck just after midnight in front of the shop on June 17 — lay bleeding on the sidewalk.
Brazoban, 18, was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
There have been no arrests in his killing.
After the incident, Mohammad was left with the task of cleaning up the blood-soaked rags, bandages and towels that were used in the futile attempt to save Brazoban’s life.
A photo of him sweeping up got more than 97,000 views after it was posted to Twitter this week.
“I asked the NYPD, ‘Are you going to come clean it?’ And they told me ‘no, that’s not our job,’” Mohammad said. “I was shocked. I was waiting all night for them to come and clean it. I waited for eight hours.”
By law, it’s the property owner’s responsibility to clean up after a crime has been committed.
“We’re on the Lower East Side, man. Things are just getting too crazy,” Mohammad said. “That just goes to show that this could happen anywhere. I thought this was a safe place.”
