A 62-year-old bodega worker who killed a career criminal in self-defense after the criminal attacked him in his business is being charged with murder after the new Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg made the decision.
This morning, Jose Alba sits in Rikers Island awaiting his initial court appearance on murder-related allegations.
His bail was set at $250,000, which is excessive when contrasted to the cheap or no cash bail that repeat criminals typically receive from Bragg’s soft-touch office.
Austin Simon attacked Alba in the Bluemoon Convenience Store in Harlem on Friday night, and Alba fatally stabbed Simon.
Alba has worked there for decades and is well-liked by the locals. She is also clean-shaven.
His family set up a GoFundMe campaign to aid with covering his legal costs, however the website was taken down on Wednesday night after receiving $20,000 in donations.
The decision has not yet been explained by GoFundMe.
The judge rejected Bragg’s office’s request to set Alba’s bond at $500,000 when she was arraigned over the weekend on a second-degree murder allegation.
Although Alba has not yet been charged, a grand jury will hear his case on Saturday.
The argument started when Simon’s unnamed girlfriend attempted to purchase a bag of potato chips for her daughter in the supermarket on Friday night.
When she attempted to pay with her debit card, it was rejected, and Alba requested that she return the chips.
The woman allegedly then pulled her own knife out of her bag, according to authorities. She fled the store after a fight to ask Simon for assistance.
At the time of the altercation on Friday night, Simon was on parole for assaulting a police officer.
He was incarcerated in Elmira and Five Points in New York, according to state records.
DA The office of Alvin Bragg has not offered any commentary on the choice to charge Alba.
Online users and residents of Alba’s neighborhood in Harlem are both expressing mounting displeasure over the decision.
No charges have been brought against Simon’s girlfriend, who is accused of pulling a knife and stabbing him in the arm.
The girlfriend is still living her life, a store employee who did not want to be identified told DailyMail.com yesterday.
Regulars at the business characterized Alba as a dedicated father who was getting ready for retirement and was eager to see his family in the Dominican Republic again the following week.
They informed DailyMail.com that he worked at the store every day of the week from noon to six in the morning in order to “earn an honest living.”
However, some customers have attempted to take advantage of him throughout his more than two years of employment at the store by snatching products and attempting to flee with them.
They also claimed that one individual even presented him with a gun.
Therefore, he was unaware of whether Simon had a gun and could have killed him when he started threatening him last week when he entered the store.
On Wednesday, Ahmad’s son, who was manning the counter, remarked, “He never wanted any difficulty.”
I think of him as my grandfather in that circumstance.
Simon was a well-known gang member who frequently discussed being a member, according to residents who spoke to DailyMail.com.
He has served time in prison multiple times, most recently in 2020 on accusations of assault and attempted assault, according to records acquired by DailyMail.com.
In May 2021, he was finally allowed to leave jail.
Employees at the store declared, “We want justice, and we want no issues.”
If Alba is not released, one bodega regular asserts, “We have no law here in this city.”
“I must beg for support for the enormous injustice that is taking place in my city of Harlem, with my own father notwithstanding,” Danny Alba wrote on the fundraiser page.
Knowing that a man cannot protect himself without appearing to be a villain upsets me.
She characterized her father as “a caring man who always puts his family first while also looking after children and others in difficult situations in life who have no other source of advice.”
‘It is extremely terrible how they are trying to lock my dad in jail for defending himself against a person who physically and verbally harassed him before he did any action to protect his own life,’ she continued.
In Harlem, where I was born and nurtured, if there is any justice left in the legal system, please let it operate here.
Inquiries about the removal of the page’s website did not immediately receive a response from GoFundMe.