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Family Of Man Shot Dead In Brooklyn Deli Refutes Clerk's Robbery Claim

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A Brooklyn grocery store clerk is in custody after police say he shot a customer who was holding a knife.

Police say an argument led to the shooting, but the family of the victim says he was just there to pick up keys.

Edwin Candelario can't believe his 25-year-old son, his namesake Edwin Candelario Jr., was shot dead.

"That was my first-born son, that was my heart," he said.

Police say it happened inside the Rose Family Grocery Store on Glenmore Avenue in East New York at 11 p.m. Monday.

Candelario says his son had just come home from work and told him he forgot his keys at the corner store, so they went together to pick them up.

"My son goes inside the store. I heard bam, then bam bam bam bam bam," Candelario said.

Hearing gunshots, he sprinted to the door but says someone held it shut.

"I pushed the door of the store and the guy went back and I said, 'Where the hell is my son,'" Candelario said. "I went around the register like this, that way like this. When I look, guy is standing right in front of my son, still pointing the gun at my son, my son's laying on the floor."

First responders arrived and rushed the 25-year-old to Brookdale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Candelario admits his son had been drinking before he went into the store.

Police say they have video of the 25-year-old approaching a 34-year-old store clerk with a knife. The clerk told police that's why he shot him.

Investigators say the gun he used was not licensed. The clerk was taken into custody.

"He could've shot him in the leg. He could've pushed him. Why did he have to shoot him five times? That's murder," said Luz Sanchez, the victim's aunt.

"That kid always helped me out, always, on everything. 'Dad, what do you need? Dad, you're old. You're old, dad, you don't gotta do that, I'll do it for you,'" Candelario said.

The father says the store clerk also pointed a gun at him but Candelario says he managed to get away and find police.

The clerk has been charged with criminal possession of a firearm.

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