The unidentified man stormed into the New Jersey deli wielding a box cutter and slashed brothers Abed and Mohammad Assad – as he launched into a rant about an incorrect sandwich order four years ago
Two deli workers in New Jersey have been stabbed in a bizarre attack by a man who was still fuming over a sandwich he says he was wrongly given four years ago.
The incident unfolded just after 8am on Thursday at Baladna Bakery in Paterson, when an unidentified man stormed into the shop wielding a box cutter and slashed brothers Abed and Mohammad Assad. Surveillance footage showed the enraged man confronting a female cashier before launching into a rant about a missing hot dog and a long-forgotten eggplant sandwich. “He said ‘she forgot to give me the hot dog,’ OK, take the hot dog and $3 and just leave,” said Moneer Simrin, a friend of the victims.
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“And he’s like ‘No, because I got a sandwich last time and they gave me some eggplant and I don’t like eggplant,’ He’s just looking for a problem,” she added. It comes after a family of 10 ‘barged out’ of a pub in a brazen dine and dash after a £320 meal.
The Assad brothers reportedly tried to defuse the situation and even offered the man store credit, but he refused to back down. “They tried to tell him ‘Just leave, please’ and he got the knife,” Simrin said. The attacker then allegedly slashed Abed in the chest and Mohammad on the hand and arm before fleeing the scene. Graphic video from a neighbouring business shows him running from the shop.
Photos also captured Mohammad with his arm wrapped in thick white bandages. Speaking to NBC New York, he said he recognised the attacker from years earlier – and claimed the man had already returned to the shop earlier in the week asking for them by name.
According to Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh, the man had been furious since receiving an eggplant sandwich instead of the egg one he apparently ordered years ago. “They’re concerned,” Sayegh told CBS.
“This type of thing does not happen in that area. I tried to assuage some of the fears, allay their concerns and reassure them that the police department is completely focused on bringing whomever is responsible for this tragic, violent incident to justice,” he added.
The brothers were taken to Saint Joseph’s University Hospital and discharged on Friday. Police are continuing their search for the suspect.
