Cops Search For Killers As Bronx Neighborhood Mourns Beloved Fruit Peddler
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police are searching for two suspects in the shooting of a man who sold fruit out of a van.
The Hunts Point community is mourning the loss of the local fruit man who was shot in the back as he set up for work.
As CBS2's Cindy Hsu reported, police are taking a close look at surveillance video shot near the crime scene at Oak Point Avenue and Halleck Street, at 5:30 Thursday morning.
Video shows a car pulling up, two people get out, grab something from the trunk, and walk out of the frame. Less than a minute later they come running back, and take off.
Someone called 911 and police found Faustino Leal, 61, victim shot once on the sidewalk outside of the white van that he sold fruit and juice out of. He was rushed to Lincoln Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Investigators say Leal was from Mexico and was likely targeted, but they won't say why.
They don't believe that robbery was the motive. He still had his wallet, cash, and a cell phone. Apparently there was no argument.
The shooting left workers from across the street shocked.
"He was an older guy. Really nice guy, didn't bother nobody. Doing his job like everybody else around the neighborhood," Jorge Guillermo said.
Celina Pascaciso said Leal helped her family find a place to live when they moved to the United States. His death has left her heartbroken.
"It hurt her right in the heart because he was a really good person to her," family friend Diego Galdamez said.
Pascaciso had a message for the suspects.
"She said to turn yourself in, and that he was a good person. There was no purpose of killing him. He was a good person to everyone," Galdamez said.
So far, there are no eyewitnesses.