Seething customer killed NY delivery man after dispute over duck sauce, prosecutors say

A memorial for slain food delivery courier Zhiwen Yan outside the Chinese restaurant where he worked, in Forest Hills, New York, on May 4, 2022. PHOTO: REUTERS

NEW YORK (NYTIMES) - On a routine April night, a man on a scooter rode away from the Queens restaurant where he worked making deliveries.

What the delivery man, Mr Zhiwen Yan, did not know as he made the dinner run was that an angry customer, who months earlier had demanded a refund after saying he had not gotten enough duck sauce with his order, was watching him leave the restaurant.

The man followed Mr Yan to an intersection in Forest Hills, Queens. Then, as Mr Yan waited at a stoplight, the man who had been trailing him approached and fired a single fatal shot into his chest.

The account of what happened that night was described by prosecutors on Thursday (June 2) as they announced the indictment of Glenn Hirsch, 51, of Briarwood, Queens, on murder and other charges in Mr Yan's death.

Hirsch pleaded not guilty at an arraignment on Thursday in Queens Supreme Court.

"A petty dispute over a takeout order became an obsessive point of contention for the defendant who began to stalk and harass employees at the restaurant for months," Ms Melinda Katz, the Queens district attorney, said.

Hirsch's lawyer, Mr Michael Horn, said the authorities had "arrested the wrong man".

In November, months before the fatal shooting, prosecutors said, Hirsch had ordered food at Great Wall, the Queens Boulevard restaurant where Mr Yan worked for over 20 years.

Hirsch was furious that night about not getting enough duck sauce packets with his dinner, prosecutors said. Even after workers handed him extra sauce, he insisted on a refund. One worker refused, and Hirsch called police.

An employee told officers that the restaurant could not take back orders because of concerns about the coronavirus, prosecutors said. Hirsch then stormed out of the restaurant, according to a news release from the district attorney's office.

For weeks after the episode, Hirsch continued to unleash his anger on Great Wall employees, damaging one employee's vehicle with a knife in December, prosecutors said.

When Mr Yan and his co-workers confronted Hirsch, prosecutors said, he told them, "I have a gun" and "Be careful, this is the last time I'm going to tell you."

About a month after that altercation, Hirsch showed up at the restaurant again and pointed a gun at an employee who was shovelling snow, prosecutors said.

"How's your car? Remember me?" Hirsch said, according to the news release. "I will kill your entire family."

The worker rushed into the restaurant and called police. When he went back outside, Hirsch was gone but the tires on a worker's car had been slashed, prosecutors said.

On April 30, Hirsch dropped his wife off at work and then headed toward the restaurant, prosecutors said. He drove past it seven times between 7.30pm and 9.30pm before spotting Mr Yan, 45, as he left to make the delivery.

Hirsch followed Mr Yan to an address on 108th Street, where Mr Yan dropped off an order, then to 67th Drive and 108th Street, where Hirsch then fatally shot Yan, prosecutors said.

Mr Zhiwen Yan was shot as he waited at a stoplight by the disgruntled customer on April 30, 2022. PHOTO: GOFUNDME.COM

Mr Yan was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Mr Yan, a father of three children, immigrated to the United States from Fuzhou, a city in south-eastern China. He often delivered lunch orders to students at Kweller Prep Tutoring and Educational Services, said the owner, Ms Frances Kweller.

"This is literally someone who we saw all the time," said Ms Kweller, who has helped raise over US$150,000 (S$205,000) for Mr Yan's family. "This is a man who we trusted for so many years. This was a family who was trying to live the American dream. It's devastating."

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