East Village Deli Murder: Abdul Saleh Buried, Mourners Stage Vigil
The beloved deli worker was laid to rest five days after he was allegedly shot to death by a known local troublemaker, Kavone Horton. A candlelight vigil was held later that evening, with politicians in attendance.
| 04 May 2026 | 02:35
A mourner pens a farewell note to Abdul Saleh outside Sal’s Deli and Grocery. (
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Yasef Yafi, a cousin of slain bodega worker Abdul Salen is comfored by a local minister at a candlelight vigil on April 29. He was too distraught to speak to the crowd, but spoke to Our Town Downtown. His dying cousin’s last words were, ‘take care of my kids,” Yafi said. (
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An anguished mourner holds his head in his hands at the growing memorial outside Sal’s Deli while two others knelling on the ground pen messages to the beloved bodega worker. (
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Letitia James was among the many elected officials who joined neighborhood residents at a candleight vigil outside Sal’s Deli & Grocery. Dr. Debbie Almostaser, a vice president of the Yemeni American Merchants Association (foreground with head scarf) was one of the organizers. (
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A youngster writes a sad farewell note to Abdul Saleh in chalk. (
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State Senator Brian Kavanagh speaks to the crowd at the candlelight vigil. (
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State assemblymember Keith Powers, with community advocate Ciara Lugo to his right. (
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On the same day that the beloved worker and murder victim Abdul Saleh was buried in a Muslim cemetery in Marlboro, NJ, friends, neighbors, politicians and other mourners gathered for a candlelight vigil outside Sal’s Deli & Grocery at 216 Avenue B in the East Village.
Saleh, who was from Yemen, and whose wife, young son and daughter are still in that country, was killed on April 25 in a dispute with Kavone Horton, a known troublemaker from the nearby Campos Plaza public housing project. Horton had frequently targeted the store despite being repeatedly banned from it. Ironically, in May 2025, Saleh was interviewed by Eyewitness News ABC 7 about the need for emergency police buttons in bodegas.
Yaseen Yafai, a cousin of Saleh’s who attended the funeral made it back to the East Village for the moving candle light vigil on April 30 but was too distraught to speak to the crowd.
After the ceremony, the cousin spoke with Our Town Downtown and said that Saleh on his recent trip home to Yemen was starting the process of trying to get his wife and young son and daughter to join him in America.
He had just visited home and his first night back on the job at Sal’s was the night he was shot in the abdomen. Police recovered three .38 caliber shell casings across the street from the deli where Saleh had apparently chased the suspect who argued with him and messed up a candy display.
Prosecutors said all three shots were fired by Horton who also suffered a gunshot wound in the struggle, which was believed to have come from a ricochet. Both the suspect and victim were rushed by EMS to Bellevue Hospital, where Saleh died of his wound. Horton was arrested the next day and charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon, among other charges.
The cousin told Our Town Downtown that Saleh’s brother was also working in the store at the time of the time of the shooting. The brother held Abdul in his arms as he was bleeding out from the wound that would turn out to be fatal. Saleh’s dying words to his brother were, “take care of my kids.”
The Yemeni American Merchants Association, which organized the vigil, said that 3,000 bodegas across the city are owned by Yemenis. The association’s call for panic buttons in stores and an end to gun violence was echoed by a parade of politicians who joined hundreds of neighborhood residents.
A Candlelight Vigil, and Calls for Vigilance
“Tonight, we light a candle in the darkness,” said New York State Attorney General Letitia James. “But at the same time, as we celebrate his life, we all have a responsibility to address gun violence because we’ve been here before.”
“When you may have been a dollar short, he allowed you to purchase something,” she continued. “He held your children. He knew your names. He made your coffee.”
“These places are the backbone of every neighborhood across our city, but there are vulnerable workers,” local City Council member Harvey Epstein said.
”He was a worker and a friend to so many in the community,” said Assemblymember Grace Lee. “It is time to stop the senseless violence,” she said. Lee urged that panic buttons be installed in more bodegas to summon police instantly in emergency situations.
State Assemblymember Keith Powers, State Senator Brian Kavanagh, and former Comptroller Brad Lander, who is running for congress against Democratic incumbent Dan Goldman, also addressed the crowd in the two hour ceremony.
Also present, athough he didn’t speak, was state senate candidate Jason Murillo who is running as a Republican for the seat Brian Kavangh is vacating.
Sal’s Grocery & Deli remained closed through the weekend as mourners placed post-it notes on the store’s gray metal grate and lit candles outside on as the sidewalk as the makeshift memorial outside Sal’s continued to grow.
“I don’t even feel safe anymore, this is the community that I was raised in and I can’t even go across the street,” confessed community advocate Ciara Lugo, who lives a block away said.
”Three brothers of this community have had their lives taken by gun violence,” Lugo continued, who said it is not an isolated incident at all in recent years. She called for the establishment of a Human Justice Network and panic buttons in bodegas.
A note writer identified only as “Eddie” penned a sad farewell: “He was our family and that is someone you can never replace. I’m going to miss you forever.”