UES Crime: Deli Worker Shot Dead, Hit-And-Run Driver Nabbed, Cops Say

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — It was an unfortunately eventful weekend on the Upper East Side where a deli worker was fatally shot, a woman died by suspected suicide in her car and a man charged in a fatal hit-and-run crash, according to police and reports.

The deli worker was shot dead in a robbery gone wrong just before midnight Friday near East 81st Street and Third Avenue, officials said.

The worker, known as Michael, was shot in the hand and the head by a man dressed in a hazmat suit who first demanded his and a customer's money, the Daily News reported.

Friends and neighbors told the Daily News that Mike was nervous for years about working the overnight shift at the Daona Deli on East 81st Street and Third Avenue.

“I said, ‘Mike. I don’t think you should be here by yourself,’” Upper East Side resident Helen Rambert, 67, told the Daily News she said to her late friend.

Reports say similar hazmat-suited robberies have happened in recent days in Greenpoint, and even just hours after Friday's killing, about five miles away in The Bronx.

On Sunday just before noon, officers found a 35-year-old woman dead inside a car in Sutton Place in a suspected suicide after responding to a 911 call, police told Patch.

EMS workers declared the woman dead at the scene, officials said.

The car, a black Jeep parked at East 56th Street and Sutton Place, was filled with toxic chemicals, according to the Daily News, who also reviewed surveillance footage showing the woman drive and park the car alone alongside the dead-end block on Saturday night.

As of Monday morning, officials do not suspect any criminality, but the medical examiner has yet to determine the cause of death.

Finally, police arrested and charged the man linked to the hit-and-run that killed a 40-year-old woman in December, the NYPD said.

Donovan Stewart, 23, was charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and failing to show his license, officials said.

The victim, Chevon Cintron, 40, was first hit by Stewart's car as she crossed Third Avenue on Dec. 8 about 6 p.m. A MTA bus hit her again as she lay in the middle of the crosswalk.

The weekend of mayhem comes in light of NYPD statistics showing a drop of over 5 percent in major crimes for February.

For the Upper East Side, which had seen a steady drop in nearly all crimes in January, many major felonies, like assault, robbery and burglary are all on the rise as of Feb. 19.

Despite these increases, the total number of felonies in the neighborhood is nearly four percent lower than this time last year.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, there are resources to help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours a day by calling 988. Its website offers services including a live chat.