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Sommelier killed in New York City
Vernard Floranda, sommelier at Café Boulud, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Manhattan earlier this month, though prosecutors now believe that he was hit by a stray bullet.
46-year-old Floranda, who had worked at Café Boulud on the Upper East Side since October 2023, was shot in the chest outside a deli on the corner of West 160th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, just one block away from his apartment, around midnight on 2 October. A 26-year-old man was also wounded in the attack, with a bullet hitting him in the ankle.
Assistant District Attorney Megan Jo, appearing at Manhattan Criminal Court, said that the the bullet which hit Floranda “caused his almost immediate death”.
Three suspects, aged 17, 18 and 19, were arrested shortly after the incident, charged with murder, assault and gun possession. The motive behind the shooting is not yet clear, though prosecutors do not believe that Floranda was the intended target.
The victim’s mother, Violet Floranda, told reporters that she had been “crying and screaming for four days”, and lamented that her son “was in the wrong place at the wrong time”. She also revealed that the shock of Vernard’s murder resulted in the hospitalisation of his father.
db has been in touch with Café Boulud to ask if it wishes to share any words about Floranda’s death.
An obituary for Floranda mentions that two nights of visitation will take place in the Chapel of Roses located Glen Abbey Memorial Park in Bonita, California on Wednesday 6 November and Thursday 7 November 7, with the funeral to happen the day after that.
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