Suspect hurls Molotov cocktails into shop after dispute with employees
Dan Lyman Monday, November 01, 2021
Police in New York City arrested a man suspected of firebombing a shop after a dispute with staff, according to reports.
The incident unfolded just before 8 a.m. on Saturday morning in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, authorities say.Educate yourself further by tapping into our store’s vast collection of books and movies.
Joel Mangal, 38, is believed to have hurled a lit Molotov cocktail through the front door of NR Rock Deli.
The shocking attack was captured in surveillance footage released by authorities.
The firebomb detonates inside the shop, immediately engulfing a deli case in flames as an employee dives through the fire.
Another man can also be seen fleeing the shop as the inferno grows.
Moments before the men rush out the front door, the suspect lights another firebomb and attempts to throw it inside but a witness intervenes and knocks it out of his hand onto the sidewalk.
“He was threatening, ‘I’m gonna kill you. I’m gonna burn the store. I’m going to burn the building down,’” said Mohamed Abdulla, whose father owns the business.
“It was so fast, you wouldn’t believe it. I was there working in the deli and had customers. Out of nowhere I had glass and fire in my face.”
Abdulla says if the second bomb had been thrown successfully, “the whole building would have been on fire.”
Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the blaze.
Abdulla suffered burns on his arms and a slash wound allegedly inflicted by Mangal during an altercation in the aftermath.
Mangal was later arrested and charged with Arson, Assault, Reckless Endangerment, Criminal Possession of a Weapon, and Criminal Mischief.