NYC fish store worker allegedly stabs 2 brothers in dispute

NEW YORK - A man was killed and his half-brother hospitalized after an employee at an Upper Manhattan fish market allegedly stabbed them during a dispute in the store.

The worker at the Fish Express Fish Market on St. Nicholas Place allegedly claimed the pair was trying to steal shrimp.

The NYPD says that during a dispute in the store, a 34-year-old employee pulled out a knife and stabbed both men.

The inside of the Fish Express Fish Market is seen through a window.

Malik Burrell, 25, died at NYC Health & Hospitals/Harlem.  Robert Burrell, 29, was listed in stable condition with stab wounds to his torso.

The victims' father went to the store on Wednesday.  Robert Burrell said there was no way his kids were trying to steal anything.

"My kids were wonderful kids. I raised them right," Burrell said. " My mom raised them right.  We got a whole village that raised all our kids."

Burrell said the killing happened on a day his son should have been celebrating.

Robert Burrell, the father of the victims, hugs someone outside the store.

"Today is my son's birthday and he died on his birthday," Burrell said.  "He took my baby from me."

Other people from the neighborhood were shocked about the killing.

"It doesn't warrant killing anyone over food,"  Stacey Love said.

The NYPD took the 34-year-old employee into custody.  Aquino Hernandez, Jr. faces murder, assault, and criminal possession of weapon charges in the case.

The stabbings took place inside the Fish Express Fish Market.

Burrell said he's lost two of his five sons in less than two months. He just lost another son on Jan. 2, 2023.

"I'm hurt.  I'm devastated," Burrell said