Restaurateur Fatally Shot Outside Upper West Side Business: Cops

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A man was fatally shot outside of the Upper West Side restaurant he owned, police said.

Damian Ramirez, 48, was leaving Manhattan Brew & Vine on West 109th Street and Columbus Avenue around 12:40 early Saturday morning when he was shot multiple times in the torso, police said. Ramirez was rushed to St. Luke's Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

The restaurateur decided to close up shop early on Saturday night because business was slow, his wife Myriam told the Daily News. The widow was on her way back to the family's New Jersey home when a cook at the business called her and told her that "something happened to Damian," she told the Daily News.

"I thought he was joking. He said, ‘I’m serious. We don’t know what happened ... He’s on the floor outside.’"

An NYPD investigation into the shooting is ongoing, police said. Police have not made any arrests or identified a suspect, police said.

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