A 59-year-old man was murdered in cold blood outside a smoke shop in University Heights on Saturday afternoon.

 

Police said the incident unfolded on Saturday, July 30, at around 12.07 p.m., when officers responded to a 911 call regarding a man who had been stabbed at Magic 7 Smoke Shop, located at 174 West Fordham Road in the 52nd Precinct.

 

“Upon arrival, officers observed 59-year-old male, unconscious and unresponsive male with a stab wound to the neck,” a police spokesperson said. “EMS responded and transported the aided male to NYC Health and Hospitals/Jacobi where he was later pronounced deceased.”

 

Police said a preliminary investigation revealed the victim had gotten involved in a verbal dispute with a store employee in front of the location. “A 54-year-old suspect, also a store employee, approached the victim from behind and stabbed the victim in the neck,” police said.

 

A trail of blood could be seen on the wall outside the store and on the pavement. Referring to the scene, one passerby who spoke with Norwood News said, “What’s that up against the window there? That’s blood? That’s a lot of [expletive] blood! I hear the guy passed away.” The resident said he heard from someone else that the argument seemed to be over “something stupid like a cigarette or something.”

 

The deceased has been identified as Kenneth Fair, 59, of no fixed address.

 

Police were seen removing a cane, pictured above, from the crime scene.

 

Vernon Gowdy, 54, of Sedgwick Avenue in the University Heights section of The Bronx was arrested and charged with murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon.

 

Year-to-date murders are up 400 percent (10) in the 52nd precinct, compared to the same timeframe last year (2). Meanwhile, year-to-date murders in the borough, as a whole, are up 5.3 percent (79) compared to the same period last year (75).

 

On Friday, July 29, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a vote to ban assault weapons, in further efforts to curb the tide of killings across the country. The vote passed 217 to 213. Two-hundred and fifteen Democrats voted in favor and five against, while two Republicans voted in favor and 208 voted against the proposal.

 

Along with so many colleagues and advocates, we fought long and hard to get the assault weapons ban the stand alone vote it deserved. This is a victory. https://t.co/1cTNde87lK

— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) July 29, 2022

A person arrested and charged with a crime is deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.

 

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, on Twitter @NYPDTips.

 

All calls are strictly confidential.

 

Editor’s Note: In an earlier version of this story, the incident was reported as having taken place in Fordham Manor. In fact, it took place in University Heights. We apologize for this error.