The Manhattan man critically injured when he was shot in the chest Saturday has died, police said.
Jose Uraga, 28, was shot once outside a Mexican grocery on Tenth Ave. near W. 207th St. around 8 p.m. Saturday. He was declared dead at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Columbia, cops said yesterday.
His brother, Raymondo Uraga, 36, said Jose got shot trying to save him. “He was a good person, very gentle,” said Raymondo. “He was a hardworking person.”
Raymondo said he was coming out of the subway station around 8 p.m. Saturday when he saw his brother arguing with three men. Raymondo, who did not recognize the three men, tried to break up the fight.
One of the men aimed a gun at Raymondo. Jose grabbed the gunman’s hand and wound up shot in the chest, his brother said.
“They were going to shoot me, but he got in the way,” Raymondo cried. “He wanted to save my life. He loved me so much. He didn’t want the bullet hitting me.”
Jose, who lived just steps from where he was killed, worked behind a grill seven days a week at a Manhattan deli, relatives said.
“He promised me we’d get married,” wept girlfriend Sachari Gomez Pena, 28, speaking in Spanish. “We were planning on having a kid in the future.”
“He was so sweet with everybody,” she added. “Everybody loved him.”
