A shoplifter stabbed a worker at a Bronx bodega after trying to swipe some Pokemon cards, cops told the Daily News on Thursday.
The crook stabbed 32-year-old Aurelio Mendez in the chest at Fordham Fruit and Vegetables on Creston Ave. near E. 188th St. just after midnight on Tuesday, police said.
Mendez told The News that the thief threatened him after he noticed the man acting shiftily and approached him inside the deli.
“He was suspicious,” Mendez recounted. “I asked him if I could help him. He said, ‘Get out of my face or I’m going to punch you.’”
Later the man grabbed two packs of Pokemon cards from the counter by the register and fled the store before tossing the trading cards onto the sidewalk.
Mendez said it was while he reaching down to retrieve the stolen cards that the man viciously attacked him.
“He left and threw the cards onto the ground outside,” the worker said. “I went to pick up the cards and the guy came back and stabbed me in the chest.”
“I was bent over, so I never saw the knife. I felt hot in my chest. When I opened my sweater I was bleeding. The guy just ran away, but I’m worried he’ll come back.”
Paramedics treated the victim at the scene but he later went to a hospital after experiencing extreme chest pain.
“I went to the hospital yesterday because I have strong pain in my chest,” Mendez said. “He stabbed me right by the heart.”
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