Shudders Follow a Killing on Madison Avenue New York Times
The yellow crime-scene tape stretched from the elegant iron railing outside the century-old Florian Papp antique furniture shop, past the R. S. Durant jewelry store next door and down the sidewalk to the edge of the doorway of F. M. Allen, a luxury safari and sportswear shop. It stopped short of Pat Areias, a small, upscale belt and buckle shop where the display window was already decorated with red hearts for Valentine’s Day and a two-inch-wide alligator belt cost $720.
Just a few days ago, Donaldo Clough, 47, the manager at Pat Areias, had watched the rock star Jon Bon Jovi outside the shop’s window, waiting for a car. On Thursday afternoon, Mr. Clough stood behind the counter and watched detectives walk by the window. He watched a police van with flashing lights drive slowly down the street, blaring a recorded announcement that could be heard for blocks. News photographers and camera crews angled for the best shot on the sidewalk. The glass door of R. S. Durant still had smudges and a grayish residue after investigators dusted it for fingerprints.
One shop down from where Mr. Clough stood, that rarest of New York City crimes had happened: a murder on Madison Avenue.
A 71-year-old worker at R. S. Durant, Henry Menahem, was shot and killed during a noontime robbery on Wednesday. The gunman, wearing sunglasses, a black woolen hat and a scarf over the lower half of his face, told Mr. Menahem and a co-worker to fill up two canvas bags with gems. When they refused, the robber slid the magazine from his pistol, told them, “This is real,” and then slid the magazine back in before shooting Mr. Menahem in the chest, the authorities said. The gunman fled on foot and remains at large.
