The March 3, 2023 shooting took place at the now-closed Daona Gourmet Deli at 201 East 81st Street (Google Maps)
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Nearly three years after the late-night killing of Upper East Side deli worker Sueng Chul Choi, Manhattan prosecutors have secured a prison sentence for the man responsible.
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Kimond Cyrus, now 42, has been sentenced to 24 years to life in state prison for fatally shooting the 67-year-old clerk during a robbery at Daona Gourmet Deli, which was previously located at 201 East 81st Street. Cyrus pleaded guilty in October to Murder in the First Degree and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree.The March 3, 2023 incident shocked the neighborhood and drew widespread media attention, in part because Cyrus carried out the attack while wearing a white hazmat suit—a disguise he allegedly used in a series of robberies across multiple boroughs in the days leading up to the murder.
According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, Cyrus arrived at the deli shortly after 11 p.m. after changing into the hazmat suit inside a Bronx building and traveling into Manhattan on a moped. Inside the store, he pointed a gun at a customer and demanded cash before turning his attention to Mr. Choi behind the counter. When the longtime employee refused to hand over money, Cyrus pistol-whipped him and threatened the customer at gunpoint. He then forced Mr. Choi toward the rear of the store.
The customer managed to escape. Moments later, Cyrus shot Mr. Choi in the head. A passerby who saw Cyrus leaving on his moped entered the deli and found the clerk on the floor, unconscious and bleeding. Choi was pronounced dead at the scene.
Cyrus was arrested a few days later in the Bronx. Investigators executing a court-authorized search warrant recovered a loaded firearm containing bullets identical to those found at the Manhattan crime scene.
In announcing the sentence, District Attorney Alvin Bragg called it a “significant state prison term for the horrifying shooting of Sueng Chul Choi,” adding that while nothing can undo the loss, he hopes the outcome brings some measure of solace to Mr. Choi’s family.
In addition to the murder case, Cyrus still faces charges in other boroughs for three additional gunpoint robberies allegedly committed during the same week, each involving the same hazmat-suit disguise.
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