4 days ago
Boy, 13, arrested for April stray bullet murder of man visiting old Bronx workplace
A 13-year-old boy has been arrested for the slaying of a man who was paying a visit to a Bronx convenience store where he used to work at when he was struck in the head by a stray bullet last month cops said Wednesday.
The boy surrendered Tuesday and charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal use of a firearm for the April 23 killing of 28-year-old plumber Daoud 'David' Marji. The suspect's name was not released because he is a juvenile.
Marji was walking back to Unk Candy and Grocery on University Ave. near W. Kingsbridge Road after grabbing a vape pen from his car when he was struck in the head by the stray slug about 4:55 p.m., surveillance video obtained by the Daily News shows. He collapsed in front of the store where he used to work.
Shocking video shows Marji calmly walking down the street, toking on the vape pen, when he hears something, turns to look behind him and slumps to the ground.
'He went to his car to get a vape and was walking back,' said a convenience store worker, who identified himself as Ray. 'He was just walking then it looked like he turned around and that was it. Flash. Gone.'
The shot that killed Marji was fired from across the street and down the block, police sources said at the time.
A second victim, Tania Tubon, was also struck by a stray bullet in the same incident, cops said.
Tubon, 33, said she was on her way home after work with her 10 and 14-year-old sons when she was hit in the hip. She later took herself to Woodhull Hospital where she was treated and released within a few hours.
'It's scary. If I'd been a few feet over. It could have been me who died,' Tubon said. 'I'm scared for my two sons. It's very difficult to live in the city. It's crazy.'
The teen gunman and three accomplices, all wearing ski masks and dark-colored sweatsuits, fled north on University Ave. in a gray Honda Civic, cops said at the time. The accomplices are still on the loose.
Medics rushed Marji to St. Barnabas Hospital but he could not be saved.
'He was a nice guy,' said Ray, the clerk at Marji's old workplace. 'Like everyone else he was getting better in life, getting comfortable from what I seen from the outside. He hasn't been here in years. He just came by to say 'Hi' to the boss. I guess wrong time, wrong place.'
The Yonkers resident was also planning to hang out with a friend visiting the area from Detroit, his distraught father, Saed Marji, 56, said.
It was the Detroit friend who delivered the awful news to Marji's family.
Marji's father rushed to the hospital but his son was already dead. He later saw the security footage showing his son's murder.
'You have to be very careful, don't go to the bad areas,' the father said. 'It's a bad area where he was. You have to be worried. But he's been there a lot. Everybody there, they know him.'
A woman who only identified herself as Nesrin said she's lived above Marji's family in Yonkers for more than 15 years and considers them her extended family. Nesrin, 54, described Marji as a 'very nice', 'very peaceful' and 'helpful' man who was beloved by his neighbors.
Marji was currently working as a plumber but also helped out at a relative's smoke shop and did other odd jobs to make ends meet, Nesrin said.
'[I'm] very mad you know. He was very young. He's 28. He's my kids' age,' she said at the time. '[The shooter] destroyed his family. His mother, his dad, his brother. Ruined their lives.'
