Anton Albert, Staten Island man working as bouncer at Tom and Jerry’s Manhattan bar shot dead. Victim leaves behind 9 year old daughter, no arrests.
A Staten Island man moonlighting as a ‘bouncer’ at a Lower Manhattan bar has died after he was shot dead by an un-identified male during the early morning hours of Saturday morning.
Anton Albert, 39, was inside Tom & Jerry’s on Elizabeth St. near E. Houston St. in NoHo at about 3:20 a.m. Saturday when the gunman began shooting into the bar, according to police.
The gun violence led to Albert being struck twice in the chest and once in the stomach by gunfire. He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, only to mortally succumb to his injuries, the nypost reported.
Was off duty bouncer intentionally targeted?
Witnesses told cops there was no interaction between the two men before the shooting, but police were unsure if the victim was targeted, cops said. Reports told of at least 50 people being inside the bar when gunfire came through the main window, striking Albert.
Sources told FOX 5 that Anton worked part-time at the bar doing security, but he was not working at the time of the shooting and that the gunman shot the victim from outside on the street. It remained unclear if the gunman had intentionally targeted the off duty worker, and if so, why?
At the time of the shooting, Albert who resided in the Arden Heights neighborhood of Staten Island, had taken on the gig to help assist in the raising of his mother in Brooklyn along with his 9 year old daughter, who lived with her mom.
According to the man’s aunt, Albert worked in an office during the week and as a bouncer to pull in extra money.
‘He was doing everything positive,’ Dominique Albert told the nydailynews. ‘A hardworking family man, a hardworking father, good son, good nephew, good grandson. There’s nothing bad you could say about my nephew.’
The relative remembered Albert as a as a ‘happy-go-lucky’ child with a natural talent for music, even producing a couple of his own CDs.
Un-identified suspect remains at large
‘I just want everybody to know that he was a loving, caring son, brother, nephew, father, husband,’ the relative said. ‘He was a little bit of everything. But he was someone that when you were around him, you knew you were going to laugh, have a good time.’
Albert’s grandmother, Pearlie Axson, 78, echoed the sentiment, remembering her grandson as ‘a good kid.’
‘I loved him dearly,’ said Axson. ‘He’s always been a good kid. We’ve always been there for each other. He and I were very close.’
The suspect was described as Hispanic and wearing a grey hoodie, dark pants and white shoes. He was last seen running off down E. Houston St. after the fatal gunfire.
‘We don’t know who the suspect is, but we’re certainly hoping that the police is able to find him and bring him to justice,’ said Axson. ‘This was totally devastating and totally unnecessary.’
To date the NYPD has yet to make any arrests.
