On a Monday evening in late October, a Queens convenience store became the site of both a senseless killing and an unrehearsed act of courage. Steven Cohen, a 63-year-old man living out of his car, returned to a deli on Crossbay Boulevard after being removed for disorderly conduct and shot a young worker named Mohmediyan Tarwala, who did not survive. What followed was the kind of moment that reveals something essential about human character: an off-duty officer named Jason Maharaj, bound by no immediate obligation, chose to act anyway — rushing the gunman, disarming him, and holding him until
Off-duty NYPD officer tackles Queens shooter after deli worker killed
One deli worker, Mohmediyan Tarwala, 26, was fatally shot in the stomach; another employee was fired upon but missed.
He rushed the gunman without regard for his own safety
Mark
What made Maharaj step in? Was he trained to do that, or was it just instinct?
Mimi
He was off duty, so there was no training kicking in, no protocol. It was the kind of choice you make in the moment when you see something happening. He saw a man with a gun and moved toward him instead of away.
Mark
And he managed to disarm him—that's not easy, especially with a revolver.
Mimi
No, it's not. It means he got close enough to wrestle with someone who had just fired a weapon. He had no idea if Cohen would fire again, or if there were more rounds in the gun.
Mark
The shooter had been kicked out earlier. So this wasn't random.
Mimi
Right. Cohen lived in his car outside the store. He'd been asked to leave for being disorderly, and he came back almost immediately with a gun. The deli worker who shot him—Tarwala—was the one who'd asked him to go.
Mark
So Tarwala paid for that decision with his life.
Mimi
Yes. And the second employee was fired at too, but the shot missed. If Maharaj hadn't moved as fast as he did, we don't know what happens next.
Mark
Does the commissioner's recognition change anything for Maharaj?
Mimi
It acknowledges what he did, makes it visible. But for him, the real weight is probably just knowing he was there and that it mattered.
El Pulso
- A man ejected from a Queens deli for disorderly conduct returned hours later with a .38 revolver and shot a 26-year-old worker in the stomach, killing him by morning.
- A second employee was fired upon as well, narrowly escaping as the violence threatened to claim more than one life inside the small shop.
- Off-duty NYPD Officer Jason Maharaj, present during the shooting, charged the gunman without hesitation — tackling him, wrestling away the weapon, and pinning him until uniformed officers arrived.
- Police Commissioner Dermot Shea publicly commended Maharaj, framing his intervention as the decisive act that stopped the shooting from becoming a larger massacre.
- Steven Cohen, 63, with a criminal history spanning decades, now faces charges while the recovered revolver and impounded vehicle anchor the ongoing investigation.
On a Monday evening in late October, a Queens convenience store became the site of both a senseless killing and an unrehearsed act of courage. Steven Cohen, a 63-year-old man living out of his car, returned to a deli on Crossbay Boulevard after being removed for disorderly conduct and shot a young worker named Mohmediyan Tarwala, who did not survive. What followed was the kind of moment that reveals something essential about human character: an off-duty officer named Jason Maharaj, bound by no immediate obligation, chose to act anyway — rushing the gunman, disarming him, and holding him until help arrived. In the space between duty and instinct, one man's choice likely prevented further death.
On a Monday evening in late October, a convenience store on Crossbay Boulevard in Queens became the setting for a killing and an act of intervention that would draw citywide attention. Steven Cohen, 63, had been living out of his car parked outside the store and was removed earlier that day after causing a disturbance. He returned around 6 p.m. with a gun. He shot Mohmediyan Tarwala, a 26-year-old deli worker, in the stomach. Tarwala was rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where he died early the next morning. Cohen also fired at a second employee, but missed.
What transformed the moment from pure tragedy into something more complicated was the presence of Jason Maharaj, an off-duty officer from Brooklyn's 77th Precinct. Maharaj was not on duty, not obligated to intervene — yet when the shooting began, he rushed the gunman, tackled him, and fought to take the weapon from his hands. He held Cohen on the ground until uniformed officers arrived. Police recovered a .38 Colt revolver and impounded Cohen's vehicle.
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea shared video of the intervention publicly, describing Maharaj's actions as the kind of split-second decision that prevents further loss of life. Cohen's criminal history included a robbery conviction from 2000 and an assault arrest from 1982. He was taken into custody as the investigation continued. For Tarwala's family and coworkers, the officer's courage offered no consolation for what had already been lost — but it had kept the violence from spreading further.
A convenience store on Crossbay Boulevard in Queens became the scene of a killing and an act of intervention on a Monday evening in late October. Steven Cohen, a 63-year-old man living in his car parked outside the store, had been asked to leave earlier that day by the staff after he began acting disorderly. He did not stay away long. Around 6 p.m., he returned and opened fire inside the shop, shooting Mohmediyan Tarwala, a 26-year-old deli worker, in the stomach. Tarwala was rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead early the following morning.
What happened next was captured on video and later shared by Police Commissioner Dermot Shea as an example of the kind of split-second decision that separates tragedy from something worse. Jason Maharaj, an off-duty officer assigned to Brooklyn's 77th Precinct, was present when the shooting occurred. Without hesitation or regard for his own safety, Maharaj rushed the gunman, tackled him, and fought to wrest the weapon from his hands. He held Cohen in place until uniformed officers arrived on scene.
Cohen had fired at a second employee as well, but that shot missed. Police recovered a .38 Colt revolver at the scene and impounded Cohen's vehicle. The suspect's criminal history included a robbery conviction from 2000 and an assault arrest from 1982, according to police sources.
The commissioner's public recognition of Maharaj's actions reflected the department's view that the officer had prevented further loss of life through his immediate physical intervention. In a tweet posted Tuesday, Shea described the moment: a man had just killed a deli worker, and an off-duty cop, without hesitation, tackled the shooter, disarmed him, and held him for the officers who would arrive moments later. It was the kind of intervention that exists in the space between duty and choice—Maharaj was not on the clock, not obligated to be there, yet he acted as though he were.
The case moved forward with Cohen in custody and the investigation ongoing. For the deli where Tarwala worked, and for his family, the speed of the violence and the finality of it would remain the dominant fact. An officer's quick action had stopped the shooting from claiming more lives, but it could not undo what had already happened in those first seconds when Cohen returned to the store with a gun.
Citas Notables
The moment after a man shot and killed a deli worker, off-duty NYPD Officer Maharaj, without regard for his own safety, tackled the shooter, disarmed him and held him for responding cops.— Police Commissioner Dermot Shea
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