The unhinged attacker suspected of fatally stabbing a beloved Brooklyn deli employee after a conflict over a “loosie” cigarette has been recognized as a repeat offender with two dozen arrests on his report, cops mentioned.
The NYPD recognized Oneil Millise, 42, because the particular person of curiosity within the Aug. 1 lethal knifing of Diego Sandoval Nava, 33, contained in the Deli & Mini Market at Hegeman and Van Siclen avenues in East New York, authorities mentioned.
Millise was sporting darkish shades and a blue-and-white-striped long-sleeve button-down when he strolled into the East New York retailer and tossed a greenback on the counter, in response to surveillance footage seen by the proprietor of the deli and his brother.
“He got here in, he requested for a cigarette,” the shop proprietor’s brother, who didn’t wish to be recognized, beforehand instructed The Submit.
“However the man working the counter didn’t know him, so he didn’t wish to promote him a cigarette. He wished to watch out. He didn’t wish to get a ticket, you understand?”
Promoting “loosies,” or particular person cigarettes, is a violation within the Huge Apple.
Witnesses mentioned the person – livid that the clerk thought he might be an undercover cop – then hurled a bank card machine at him and threatened to kill him.
That’s when Nava, a dad of three, got here out from behind the sandwich counter to calm the perp down, the footage reveals.
The 2 then acquired right into a scuffle and Nava was stabbed a number of occasions within the torso.
The suspect fled the scene.
Nava was rushed to Brookdale College Hospital Medical Heart, the place he succumbed to his accidents.
His buddies and colleagues mentioned he had labored on the nook deli for a minimum of six months, taking the bus to the shop and making sandwiches.
“Diego was a fantastic one who all the time helped out others, and generally, when youngsters didn’t have cash to pay for the sandwiches, he paid for them as a result of he trusted that individuals pay him again,” Nava’s pal, Nasser, 15, mentioned on the deli. “He was all the time good to everybody.”
Millise had not been caught by Wednesday, because the NYPD launched a mugshot of the dreadlocked, bearded man sporting a black hoodie.
He has 24 prior arrests – together with a January 2014 case by which he allegedly acquired right into a combat with a fellow greenback van driver, 30, in Flatbush and allegedly knifed him within the face and torso, in response to a legal grievance and regulation enforcement sources.
Cops initially charged him with tried homicide – however the sources say he in the end pleaded responsible to second-degree tried assault 2 and was granted conditional discharge.
His rap sheet additionally contains arrests for driving with out a license and legal possession of a weapon, cops mentioned.
Anybody with data on his whereabouts is requested to name the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or, for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The general public also can submit their suggestions by logging onto the Crime Stoppers web site at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, on X @NYPDTips.
