One of the Brooklyn bodega workers who got into a fatal tussle with a “neighborhood nuisance” claimed they were only defending themselves from the local troublemaker who threatened “to f–ing kill” one of them.
Royal Deli & Grill worker Kelvin Melo told the Daily News that Gerry Hill loudly barged into the business Monday night — then threatened workers when they asked him to quit screaming.
Hill had shouted, “‘I want to fight you. I’m going to f–ing kill you. Any one of you come outside and fight,’” Melo recalled.
Melo grabbed a cup of coffee in case Hill launched at him, but put it down when he thought Hill was ready to leave. Instead, Hill slugged him — sparking the deadly fight, Melo claimed.
“I grabbed him and he fell on top of me and we were fighting,” he recalled.
“When I got up, I saw all the blood and thought I was bleeding. I went to the bathroom to clean up and I realized it was his blood.”
During the struggle, another clerk jumped in to help Melo, 48, and struck Hill on the head with a baton, police and law enforcement sources said. The 59-year-old Bushwick local ultimately left the store to go home, but was later rushed to the hospital, where he died.
Melo said he didn’t see fellow clerk Mukel Shaibi, 37, hit Hill because he was at the bottom of the struggle.
“After the fight, Shaibi showed me the stick he was hitting him with,” Melo reportedly said. “It was broken. It was a stick we used to break ice with.”
While the two deli workers have been questioned by police, they have not been charged.
Hill had been busted a combined 26 times, according to sources — with records showing his most recent arrest taking place in July when he allegedly punched someone. Community members previously told The Post that Hill was a nuisance in the area and a troublemaker.
A friend told The Post on Thursday that Hill could be aggressive at times and spiraled downward after losing his job. He had drug and mental health problems, the pal said.
Hill also got into a fight at the same deli a month ago, and was told not to return, the friend said.
“I don’t know why he went back,” the pal of more than 10 years said. “He had to be high or drunk. When he was drunk or high, he can be aggressive.”
Hill suffered “three deep gashes” on his head and “was getting weak” as he made his way home, the friend said. Hill claimed the deli workers “jumped” him, the friend recalled.
“The brother and the roommate were telling him to go to the hospital,” the buddy said.
“He couldn’t stay like that. He said, ‘I don’t wanna go. I am not going to the hospital.’
“The brother told him, ‘You gotta go, there might be internal bleeding.’ He was getting weak.”
Hill passed out about 30 minutes after he got home.
The friend believes criminal charges should be brought in the case.
“Nobody deserves to die like that. There is a way to go about it,” the friend said.
“You are not a street person, you are a law-abiding person. Your job is to push him away and call the police. Let them arrest him and then get an order of protection.”
The probe into the case is ongoing.
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