After Worker Slaying, Restaurant Owner Asks For Security Help

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — A restaurant owner fearing for his life after an employee was killed mid-shift is trying to raise money for enhanced security, citing inaction from police leading up to the slaying.

"I need help raising money for security and safety," Kai Yang, owner of Great Wall, wrote on a GoFundMe aiming to raise $10,000 for additional security measures at his Queens Boulevard restaurant.

The fundraiser comes after Zhiwen Yan, 45, a longtime Great Wall delivery worker, was gunned down on the job by a customer aggrieved over duck sauce, prosecutors contend.

Leading up to the slaying, Glenn Hirsch, 51, who was arrested and charged in Yan's murder, stands accused of carrying out a months-long campaign of threats and harassment against Great Wall workers, prosecutors said.

Yang said that police failed to protect workers despite the angry customer's repeated violent threats — which were outlined in an indictment — during that time.

"The killer threatened to kill my entire family along with my employees and I told the police," Yang wrote on the fundraiser. "I filed multiple police reports. The police told me there would be extra protection [but] there was not. I need help."

The Great Wall's owner told The New York Post that he'd like to install a protective glass partition in front of the register but can't afford to do so yet, especially since business has waned in the wake of the shooting.

"It’s important for me and my employees to be safe," he told The Post of the proposed security measure. "I can’t get any delivery guys to work. Nobody wants to do it because... they are afraid."

Yang has called for justice on behalf of Yan and Asian New Yorkers in the past, too, pointing to the exponential increase of anti-Asian hate amid the pandemic.

"Since the pandemic our daily living is harder... but we Asians still stick with it [and] we deserve safety," he said at a vigil for Yan, speaking about the anti-Asian hate that he's endured amid the pandemic. "We are all still working in fear," he said of himself and his workers.

The restaurant owner said he sees Hirsch's arrest as a first step, but still called on the police to do more — a demand that other groups have also made in the wake of Yan's killing.

"I need the police to do something for our safety. I need them to patrol the area, come around," he told The Post. "I need my community to be safe."

Hirsch was arrested and formally charged in Yan's murder last week, but reportedly denied responsibility in the shooting.

He is expected to return to court on June 7 and faces up to life in prison if convicted, according to the DA.

Related Articles:

• Duck Sauce Dispute Spurred Queens Delivery Worker Killing, DA Says
  
• Forest Hills Community Demands Justice At Vigil Honoring Slain Worker
• Great Wall Reopens After Worker Shooting; NYPD Investigation Continues
• Disgruntled Customer Sought In Delivery Worker's Murder: Reports
• Delivery Worker Shot Dead In Forest Hills, Officials Say