NYC garage security worker is charged with attempted murder - after being shot twice by thief

A Manhattan parking garage attendant who was shot twice while confronting an alleged thief at his business was charged with murder after wrestling away the weapon and using it to fire at the suspect.

The nightside worker, Moussa Diarra, 57, was slapped with assault and criminal possession of a weapons charges in the Saturday incident, which occurred at around 5.30am.

The attendant saw a man peering into the car windows on the second floor of the West 31st Street garage, reported the New York Post.

Thinking that the man was stealing, the attendant brought the suspect outside and asked what was inside his bag.

Instead of idling or cooperating, however, the man then pulled out a weapon.

The incident unfolded at a midtown parking garage on West 31st Street in Manhattan

Both men, including the one acting in self defense, have been charged with attempted murder

Diarra lunged for the gun and it went off, leaving him with a stomach wound and an ear graze before he was able to turn the firearms on the alleged thief and shoot him in the chest.

The culprit, Charles Rhodie, 59, was also charged with attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon, in addition to burglary, according to police.

The charges against Diarra have left many confused and livid, as they are reminiscent of the case against Manhattan bodega clerk Jose Alba, who was charged with murder following a fatal confrontation on July 1 with an angry customer who accosted him.

A family friend of Diarra's was irate: 'That's self-defense. The guy tried to rob his business. Why DA want to charge him with attempted murder?' said Mariame Diarra, of no relation to the attendant.

'He's there for security. That's literally his job, to defend his business ... He takes his job seriously ... Attempted murder charge has no place there,' she continued. 'He [the robber] came to find him at his job with his gun, he [the attendant] has to defend himself.'

An individual who works at another garage near the Moynihan Train Station was also shocked and disturbed by the charges: 

'You are kidding. That's an April fool day joke, right?' asked the person. 'How can a hardworking man get arrested for defending himself?'

Last July, it was six days before Alba was let out of jail on Rikers Island and Alvin Bragg dropped the murder charge following a public pressure campaign to do so.

The post reported that one police officer who was told about the attempted murder charge said: 'People like Alvin Bragg have made this city unsafe and this worker is a victim defending himself.'

Another officer joked that the thief would have been better off is he were caught stealing because Bragg would likely not have pressed any sort of lasting charge.

'The ironic thing is if he would have just robbed the garage and got caught, Bragg would have let him go, but now he wants to charge both of them,' he said.

Both the attendant and suspected robber live in Manhattan and were transported to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition following the incident. 

The statistics paint a bleak picture of the city's efforts to address crime that's rocketed since the pandemic

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has been accused of being soft on crime and failing to prosecute criminals who are driving the crime stats up in New York City

One officer who found out about the charges against Diarra said: 'People like Alvin Bragg have made this city unsafe and this worker is a victim defending himself'

Last week, Manhattan DA Bragg oversaw the indictment of former President Donald Trump, an action that many have called spectacular political overreach from an office that frequently seeks to tamp down charges, not amplify them.

Bragg's complacency when it comes to street criminals is part of the reason New York City's crime rate continues to skyrocket despite repeated promises from City Hall that the Adams administration is working to get the issue under control.  

Crime statistics released in January paint a bleak picture of the city's efforts to address crime that's rocketed since the pandemic. 

The data shows that rapes, robberies, and assaults are all up from last year, since hitting highs not seen in decades in both 2020 and 2021.

Rape - which rocketed in 2020 when streets were empty and unemployment rife due to unrest caused by the coronavirus - rose by 7 percent, with more than 120 occurring this year than last.

Robberies, meanwhile, rose a shocking 20 percent, despite recent measures taken by Adams, 62, to increase police presence throughout the city.

Assaults and theft throughout the city, meanwhile, show a similarly pronounced rise, with felony assaults up 12 percent - 26,039 incidents this year compared to 22,835 seen last year - and burglaries up an alarming 25 percent.

All other crime categories - including grand larceny and motor vehicle theft - showed similar rises except for murders, despite the outset of the pandemic coming now nearly three years ago.

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