At a busy barbershop on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens 47 year old barber Rafael Abreu was focused on cutting hair Friday night. As CBS News reports a man ran into the shop fleeing 3 would be killers. A second later they entered the shop with their pistols out. Rafael stops his haircut to step in front of the first man. He yells at him to take it outside. He actually startled the guy with his authoritative tone. Despite having the gun and wanting to kill a man in front of dozens of witnesses, the suspect listened. As he turned around to leave the 2 other gunman behind him were coming in and they spun him around.
Rafael grabbed the first man again and a 2nd. The first guy basically didn't want to be involved at this point so he turned around again and left. The 2nd gunman struggled to break free while the 3rd went on unencumbered. He fired a shot which thankfully missed and then retreated. When he was walking past Rafael on his way out is when Rafael released the 2nd man who followed his friend out the door.
NYPD data shows crime in the area is up 19% compared to the same time last year.
Rafael who is a father of 7 says he doesn't want to be a hero. "The shootings, the cartels, the drug gangs, the prostitution, the brothels. We can't stop it unless we have police officers on our street. So for now it's up to people like me to stop these thugs which I'm not trained or equipped to do." Local officials thank Rafael for his bravery but also agree that they need more police to stop the rise in crime.