By Corey Kilgannon, The New York Times
The retired detective came into the Queens deli every day, always buying his Lotto tickets and two packs of Parliament cigarettes, employees said.”
The former detective, John R. Malik, 60, always had a smile and a joke, often reminding employees good-naturedly that he still carried a gun on his hip, they said.”
Yesterday, an 18-year-old deli worker, Manuel Chametla, died from a bullet to the chest from that gun, a .380-millimeter pistol. The police said yesterday that Mr. Malik was carrying it legally and that it might have discharged accidentally. No charges have been filed.”
Mr. Chametla was working at the counter at 11 p.m. Monday when Mr. Malik walked into the Astoria Food Mart at 31st Street and 21st Avenue.”
The police said that as Mr. Malik prepared to cash in a winning lottery ticket, his pager began beeping. As he reached for it, the pistol was dislodged. As he tried to catch it, the gun fired and the bullet hit Mr. Chametla in the chest, the police said. After telling another deli employee to call 911, Mr. Malik began performing first aid, the police said.”
Mr. Chametla, a Mexican immigrant, died shortly after 4 a.m. yesterday at Elmhurst Hospital.”
“The investigation is continuing and no conclusions have been reached about possible criminal charges,” said Patrick Clark, a spokesman for District Attorney Richard A. Brown of Queens.”
A law enforcement official said the police had separate accounts from Mr. Chametla, his co-worker and Mr. Malik.”
“You have a shooting - the weapon is discharged - he’s giving an account of how it happened, and they’re going to try and evaluate the evidence and determine whether there was criminality involved,” the official said. “Was there any kind of negligence that was so gross that it’s criminal?""
The medical examiner will perform an autopsy tomorrow.”
Mr. Malik’s lawyer, John Murphy, did not return phone messages left on his office machine last night. A woman who answered the phone at a number listed for Mr. Malik said, “I’m sorry, we have nothing to say.""
Mr. Malik, who had worked for the Police Department’s Technical Assistance and Response Unit, retired from the force in May 2002. A regular deli customer, Patrick Franco, 59, of Astoria, said that Mr. Malik was “an outgoing person, a bit eccentric, but he let everyone know he’s a cop.""
“He’s a big guy,” he said. “He doesn’t need a gun.""
Mr. Franco, a Con Edison employee, said Mr. Malik often mentioned his pistol. Mr. Franco imitated a gunslinger’s motion and said, “He would kid around with you and put his hand to his hip.""
At the deli yesterday, employees gave different accounts of the incident, with some saying Mr. Malik had been showing off the gun to Mr. Chametla.”
“But they were friends,” said Koi Getbam, 44, a deli employee. “He was always telling a joke. He’s a very, very nice guy. We talk every day.""
Mr. Chametla’s father, Noe Chametla, 40, said he used to work at the Astoria Food Mart with his son and knew Mr. Malik. He said he had trouble believing it was an accident.”
“They say it’s an accident, but I don’t think it is,” he said. “The man liked to joke around with the deli workers, not only my son, but the others. Sometimes I saw him trying to show off. He always said, ‘I’m a police officer and I have a gun.’ ""
“I don’t know what really happened,” Mr. Chametla said softly, sitting in his darkened basement apartment in East Elmhurst.”
He said that he rushed to the deli Monday night. “When I got there, the police didn’t let me in,” he said. “All the blood was cleaned up, and the police were talking very friendly to him. Then he was able to go home. I was expecting them at least to tie him up, arrest him. They never told me nothing. Not even, ‘I’m going to be in touch with you.’ ""
Mr. Chametla, who moved here from Mexico 10 years ago, said his son, an aspiring musician, had moved here to earn money to send back to the mother of his child.”
Mr. Chametla said he called his wife, Esperante, in Mexico yesterday morning to tell her the bad news.”
“She was blaming me,” he said. "