Cops Nab Hazmat Suit-Wearing Gunman After UES Deli Slaying: NYPD

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The hazmat suit-wearing man accused of fatally shooting a bodega worker during a robbery on the Upper East Side last week was brought into custody Thursday, the NYPD announced in a news conference.

Kimond Cyrus, 39, stands accused of shooting Sueng Choi, 67, in the head inside Daona Deli on East 81st Street and Third Avenue Friday, said Jeffrey Maddrey, the NYPD's chief of department.

The man was wanted for three robberies, in addition to the fatal shooting, Maddrey said.

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"This another example of pointless, avoidable violence on the streets of our city," he said.

The shooting unfolded amid a three-borough robbery spree that unfolded Feb. 25 and March 3, said James Essig, the NYPD's chief of detectives.

Investigation showed a man in a black mask and a hooded Tyvek suit entered three delis and one bagel shop, flashed a gun and demanded money, cell phones and Newport cigarettes, Essig said.

The suspect shot one person — Choi — in the Upper East Side incident March 3, Essig said. In all incidents, the man drove off on a blue moped, he said.

"During the course of this investigation, detectives were able to track that scooter and have recovered two Tyvek vests," he said.

The first vest was found in Flatbush along Newkirk Avenue after a Feb. 25 robbery. On Tuesday, police found a discarded hazmat suit that the Upper East Side shooter, still at large at the time, left behind a Park Avenue building in Concourse Village, the Daily News reported and Essig said.

Essig said a tip helped identify the man from a visit to a Boston Road bodega in The Bronx.

"This tip was very instrumental in the apprehension of this violent person," he said.

Video footage helped track the suspect's blue moped to Crotona Park East, where more footage showed a man wearing a Tyvek suit, Essig said.

Police found a blue moped and a black handgun in plain sight at Rombouts Avenue in The Bronx, where the man was arrested Thursday morning, Essig said.

Last week's fatal shooting, which police said was a robbery gone wrong, shocked the neighborhood and spurred calls from Mayor Eric Adams and advocates for shoppers to remove their masks for identification and surveillance purposes when entering shops.

When Patch reporters asked bodega workers in the Upper East Side and in Brooklyn what they thought of the idea on Wednesday, most were unaware of the announcement and said while they'd prefer to see people's faces, they wouldn't start asking customers to remove their masks.

Adams repeated that mask off call during the news conference.

"Anyone who states we can't have public safety and public health together, they are wrong," he said.