The unhinged attacker suspected of fatally stabbing a beloved Brooklyn deli employee after a conflict over a “loosie” cigarette has been recognized as a repeat offender with two dozen arrests on his document, cops stated.
The NYPD recognized Oneil Millise, 42, because the particular person of curiosity within the Aug. 1 lethal knifing of Diego Sandoval Nava, 33, contained in the Deli & Mini Market at Hegeman and Van Siclen avenues in East New York, authorities stated.
Millise was sporting darkish shades and a blue-and-white-striped long-sleeve button-down when he strolled into the East New York retailer and tossed a greenback on the counter, in response to surveillance footage considered by the proprietor of the deli and his brother.
“He got here in, he requested for a cigarette,” the shop proprietor’s brother, who didn’t need to be recognized, beforehand instructed The Submit.
“However the man working the counter didn’t know him, so he didn’t need to promote him a cigarette. He wished to watch out. He didn’t need to get a ticket, you recognize?”
Promoting “loosies,” or particular person cigarettes, is a violation within the Massive Apple.
Witnesses stated the person – livid that the clerk thought he could possibly be an undercover cop – then hurled a bank card machine at him and threatened to kill him.
That’s when Nava, a dad of three, got here out from behind the sandwich counter to calm the perp down, the footage exhibits.
The 2 then received right into a scuffle and Nava was stabbed a number of instances within the torso.
The suspect fled the scene.
Nava was rushed to Brookdale College Hospital Medical Heart, the place he succumbed to his accidents.
His buddies and associates stated he had labored on the nook deli for not less than six months, taking the bus to the shop and making sandwiches.
“Diego was a terrific one who all the time helped out others, and generally, when children didn’t have cash to pay for the sandwiches, he paid for them as a result of he trusted that individuals pay him again,” Nava’s pal, Nasser, 15, stated on the deli. “He was all the time good to everybody.”
Millise had not been caught by Wednesday, because the NYPD launched a mugshot of the dreadlocked, bearded man sporting a black hoodie.
He has 24 prior arrests – together with a January 2014 case during which he allegedly received right into a battle with a fellow greenback van driver, 30, in Flatbush and allegedly knifed him within the face and torso, in response to a prison criticism and regulation enforcement sources.
Cops initially charged him with tried homicide – however the sources say he in the end pleaded responsible to second-degree tried assault 2 and was granted conditional discharge.
His rap sheet additionally consists of arrests for driving with out a license and prison possession of a weapon, cops stated.
Anybody with info on his whereabouts is requested to name the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or, for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The general public may also submit their suggestions by logging onto the Crime Stoppers web site at on X @NYPDTips.
