The bodega worker charged with murder after defending himself against a customer has reportedly relocated out of New York City after fearing the incident’s repercussions.
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As previously reported, the murder charges against Jose Alba,61, were dropped after the July 1 attack. A month later, Alba quit his job at the store and fled the city to an undisclosed location in upstate New York. Bodega Association Head Francisco Marte told the Daily Mail that Alba is taking a hiatus, and he even considered moving back home to the Dominican Republic.
‘He is taking a hiatus right now. He went upstate to get away from everything. He is not going back to work at the bodega. He is taking a break fighting with his trauma, and he said he is afraid for his life.’
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Marte added that Alba was reportedly traumatized by the fight between him and Austin Simon,35, and he’s considering some options while spending time with his family.
‘He is trying to get back to normal, but he said it’s very hard when you have flashbacks of what happened. We are getting him professional help, and then [Alba and his family] decide whether he goes back to the DR for good or just spends some time there.’
Alba’s murder charges were dropped on July 19 after Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg asked a judge to drop them due to backlash from the public and criticism from NYC Mayor Eric Adams. He worked at the Blue Moon Deli and was confronted by Simon over an argument regarding his girlfriend’s EBT card that was declined at the register.
““My heart goes out for this hard-working, honest New Yorker that was doing his job in his place of business, where a person came in and went behind the counter and attacked him. The DA has a non-mandate, where we cannot dictate or mandate how he determines how he’s going to prosecute crimes. That is up to the district attorney, and I’m not going to second-guess the district attorney for his actions,” Adams said in a statement to reporters last month.
“We have enough people who are there for people who break the law. As I saw it, from the video, I saw a worker here following the law, and he should not have been approached in the manner that he was approached.”
Jose Alba,51, stabbed & killed a 37yr old man who went behind the counter to attack him in a NY bodega bc he was mad about a bag of chips. #freeJoseAlba #SelfDefense pic.twitter.com/tJDc78kvHY
— Enrique Antonio Gamez (@E_Tony_Gamez) July 6, 2022
Prosecutors argued that they couldn’t prove ‘beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not justified in his use of deadly physical force’ during the attack. Additionally, a homicide case couldn’t be proven against Alba and wouldn’t be presented in front of a grand jury. Alba was also stabbed by Simon’s girlfriend during the altercation, but it is unclear if she was charged for attacking him. Additionally, her identity was not released by the Manhattan DA.