Family of Bodega Worker Who Was Fatally Shot Seeks $20 Million from City

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN, BROOKLYN — The family of a bodega worker who was killed in the Bronx by a man who swiped a gun from a cop's holster is filing a $20 million wrongful death claim against the city and the NYPD, their attorney announced. The announcement was made in a press conference outside the attorney's office in Downtown Brooklyn on Tuesday.

Wali Camara, a 49-year-old from West Africa, was fatally shot on Aug. 9, 2016, allegedly by suspect Efrain Guzman, who NYPD Officer Jorge Monge said grabbed a gun from his holster and fired 15 times.

Guzman was being ushered by cops out of a store across the street from the A&M Deli & Grocery on Valentine Avenue in the Bronx when he fired the shots, cops said. Guzman had just gotten into a dispute with Camara in the N&A Food across the street from the A&M after Guzman begged Camara for $2, cops said. When Camara refused, Guzman went across the street to A&M to try his luck there, where workers called the cops.

Guzman has been charged with second-degree murder, and if convicted, he faces 25 years to life in prison.

Now attorney Sanford Rubenstein is filing a claim, a step before a lawsuit is filed, on behalf of Camara's brother-in-law Mody Doucoure, who lives in the Bronx, Rubenstein confirmed to Patch.

The wrongful death claim alleges that the NYPD is liable for the outdated gun holster that was being used by Officer Jorge Monge, the cop from whom Guzman allegedly swiped the gun. It also questions why the NYPD didn't put Guzman in handcuffs immediately and before they took him out of the A&M.

"As a result of the tragic death of Wali Camara, the police commissioner has announced all city uniformed police officers will be receiving new, more secure gun holsters, Safariland6360 with an automatic locking system to replace the holster used at the time of Wali Camara’s death," Rubenstein said at the press conference Tuesday.

The holster that Officer Monge was carrying, Safariland holster model No. 2955, was purchased in a surplus fire sale in the 1990s after the LAPD said it didn't want them, a retired NYPD officer told the New York Daily News.

"It has a cheap snap, and the retention mechanism is crappy," the retired officer told the Daily News. "I had to replace it twice. One guy I knew had to replace his holster six times."

The claim alleges that Officer Monge used "an inadequate, faulty and deficient gun holster" and other officers of the NYPD continued after the incident to use holsters "that have a shoddy snap clasp without an automatic locking system and without an appropriate weapon retention mechanism and that have been widely criticized, rather than newer models that have a straight up draw and automatic locking system."

"The city and NYPD have failed to respond appropriately to past complaints of faulty gun holsters and police procedure and training of bolstering a firearm, not only by their own Internal Affairs Bureau, but also the Civilian Complaint Review Board, Mollen Commission reports and other public reports," the claim says.

Guzman is set to appear in the Bronx Supreme Court on Jan. 18.

Photo of Wali Camara courtesy of NYPD