19-year-old man shot dead by gun-weilding robber at BJ’s Wholesale Club parking lot in Brooklyn

In a robbery and shooting incident, a 19-year-old man was killed at Bath Beach in Brooklyn. A teenager attempted to rob the 19-year-old of his backpack in the parking lot of BJ’s Wholesale Club on Thursday. A struggle ensued, and the robber shot the man, wounding him fatally.

The assailant is an 18-year-old man, whose identity has not been revealed by the authorities. He, however, is in police custody and was identified as a customer of BJ’s Wholesale Club. The victim has been identified as Dereck Chen from Bensonhurst. According to authorities, the incident took place in Shoreway Park just before 10:15 p.m.

In the struggle, when Chen tried to grab his bag back, the robber shot him in the face and shoulders. The first responders on the scene immediately took Chen to the nearest hospital, which was NYU Langone Hospital. However, he succumbed to his injuries.


The police recovered the handgun at the site of the incident, which was near an elevator in the store’s parking lot. They reported that the assailant tried to flee from the scene, but he was quickly arrested, given just one point of entry and exit from the store.

An employee from the store reported hearing shouts just before several gunshots were fired. The police are yet to file charges against the assailant. They believe that the incident is a case of a robbery gone wrong. The police also believe that it was a random robbery wherein the victim and the assailant did not know each other. As the victim refused to let go of the bag, the assailant might have got restless, which resulted in him discharging the handgun.

As the investigations continued, detectives of the police remained in the area. The store has not declared whether it will open on Friday after Thursday’s incident.

Meanwhile, the police department has asked people with information about the incident to call the NYPD’s hotline at 1800 577-8477. You can also inform the police through their official website or on their Twitter handle. The police have promised to keep the identity of the informer confidential.