A 21-year-old man was busted this week in connection to the fatal shooting of a Staten Island deli clerk and father of two during a stick-up over the summer, cops said Friday.
Yaseen Bassuny was charged Thursday with second-degree murder and first-degree assault and attempted robbery for the July 8 slaying of 35-year-old Bassam Khateeb, who was working at Manor Deli and Convenience, police and prosecutors said.
Bassuny allegedly barged into the deli on Manor Road in Castleton Corners around 7:50 p.m. that night – joined by two accomplices – one of whom was packing a loaded gun, according to a criminal complaint.
At some point during the botched heist, the armed suspect pointed the gun at Khateeb – a father of two who co-owned the deli – and fired a single round at him, the complaint states.
Surveillance video from inside the deli – which only depicts two suspects – shows the ski mask-wearing men sprint out the door following the shooting and into a maroon Jeep Cherokee, which sped out of the parking lot.
About a half-hour before the fatal shooting, the suspects had tried to enter the Caviar Mist 2 smoke shop, on Richmond Avenue in the Bulls Head neighborhood – less than four miles from the deli, cops and prosecutors said.
One of the suspects knocked on the door and tried to open it as he peered through the glass window, according to footage from the NYPD.
After the suspects failed to get in, they walked away and headed to Khateeb’s store next.
Khateeb opened the store about six months prior to the shooting and typically operated it alone at night, according to the Staten Island Advance.
“He has always been nice, he tries to help people out, he takes advice from people,” a neighbor told the outlet. “He installed a deli when we [the neighborhood] asked for it. This just sucks, I’m terrified.”
Bassuny was ordered held without bail during his arraignment Friday afternoon.
