A joyous celebration turned into a nightmare for the heartbroken family of a hardworking Brooklyn restaurant worker shot in the head — and declared braindead a day before his birthday.
Frankley Duran, 36, was blasted in the back of the head just after midnight Monday by the driver of a black Ford sedan as Duran was closing the front gate at Room 1Hundred on Jamaica Ave. near New Jersey Ave. in East New York. A fight had erupted less than an hour before the gunfire, police said.
“My son has been a hard working man ever since he was a little boy,” Duran’s grieving father Isidro Duran, 59, told the Daily News on Tuesday. “He is honest, responsible and respectful. Tomorrow, it’s his birthday. He’s turning 37.”
“We’re devastated,” the distraught dad said.
Duran’s father flew to New York City from the Dominican Republic, from where Duran immigrated, to be with his beloved son.
“He came to New York for a better life,” the dad said. “He was here to work and help his family back home. It’s hard to lose a good son.”
Duran’s uncle, Inocencio Duran, 55, who also flew from the D.R., told The News the loss is “devastating for our whole family. Our family has never experienced anything like this. We have lost a very good person.”
“Frankley was a very humble person. He was a very kind person. He started working at my bodega when he was a little boy. He was ‘muy tranquilo’,” the uncle said.
Duran’s family told The News that doctors had declared Duran braindead, but they were waiting to run more tests before making any decisions.
A police source told The News a gunman had gotten into an argument about his bill, and when the fight escalated out of control, restaurant workers hustled patrons out the door as they tried to close early.
“The gates were already down. He went out to put on the locks,” said a restaurant worker who identified himself as Duane, and was there at the time of the tragic shooting. “Someone from across the street shot him. Half an hour before, there was an argument with the bill. We don’t know if it was related.”
“Frankley works hard every day, and he got caught in the crossfire. It’s crazy,” said Duane, who did maintenance work at the restaurant.
“He wasn’t involved in the argument at all,” Duane said.
Two shell casings were recovered at the scene. A parked red Honda accord was struck by three bullets.
The shooter is still at large, and cops are looking for the black Ford in which he rode.
