Man shot by police outside Fordham deli identified as Victor Soto

The confrontation on Monday, November 2, 2026, ended with officers shooting 49-year-old Victor Soto outside the deli at East 194th Street and Bainbridge Avenue in the Bronx. Police described his wounds as non-life-threatening and said he was expected to survive. No officers were reported hurt.⁠1⁠2

Police say Soto pointed his gun at the officers and fired before they returned fire. That sequence remains a police account, not an independently established reconstruction. But investigators have identified evidence that could test it: body-worn camera recordings and surveillance footage from both sides of the deli’s glass.⁠1⁠2

According to the more detailed account published by ABC7 New York, officers first spotted Soto outside Sammy Deli at about 3:20 p.m. Police said he had argued with workers or customers earlier, left and returned armed. They allege he threatened people inside, loading and aiming the gun as they sought cover. The origin of that dispute has not been explained.⁠1⁠2

Assistant Chief Aneudy Castillo said Soto disregarded the officers’ command to drop the weapon and instead “pointed the firearm directly at the officers.” The NYPD says Soto then fired and officers shot back, wounding him. Investigators recovered a gun that police identified as the one he used.⁠1⁠2

Shell casings were visible on the ground afterward. Those casings and the recovered firearm matter, but neither establishes the order of the shots on its own. The central questions include what Soto did with the weapon, what officers could see, when they gave commands and how the gunfire unfolded.⁠1

The people inside the store are central to the danger police described, yet their own accounts are still missing from the reporting. The deli’s owner and employees had not commented by Monday night. Their experience could help establish what happened before officers arrived, not just the final confrontation outside.⁠1

What brought officers to the deli remains unresolved. ABC7’s November 2 report described officers on patrol seeing a man with a gun. CBS New York’s initial report that day said police had been called to a store over someone menacing people with a firearm. Those descriptions could fit the same encounter, but the available reporting does not establish whether a dispatch brought these officers there or when any call occurred. A reported argument inside the deli does not itself establish a call to police.⁠1⁠2

The timing also needs care. The later, more detailed ABC7 account places the officers’ first sighting of Soto at about 3:20 p.m.; earlier reports put the encounter or shooting shortly before or around 3:30 p.m. These may describe different stages of the confrontation. They do not establish the precise minute officers fired.⁠1⁠6⁠11

Initial reporting gave the address as 2657 Bainbridge Avenue. ABC7 described it as between East 194th and East 196th streets, while CBS described a broader stretch between East 193rd and East 196th streets. The later account names Sammy Deli at East 194th Street and Bainbridge Avenue. That is the most specific reported setting; the differing block descriptions have not been independently checked against an authoritative address map.⁠1⁠2

Some early gaps have been filled rather than left in dispute. FOX 5’s first report said injuries and identities were unknown. Subsequent reporting established that one man had been wounded and hospitalized, then identified him as Soto. A FOX 5 evening video description reported that he had been shot twice and had non-life-threatening injuries. Those updates supersede the initial absence of information; they are not accounts of separate shootings.⁠3⁠1⁠13

Castillo’s statement identifies a potentially substantial record, not independent confirmation of what that record shows. The recordings could connect the alleged threats inside the store to the commands and shots outside. Whether they support every part of the police account has not been established.⁠1

Police also cited eight prior arrests, including assault and firearm-possession arrests, and earlier mental-health-related contact with the department. Arrests are not convictions. Neither that history nor the reference to mental health establishes why this confrontation happened or answers the questions about the officers’ use of force.⁠1

Soto had not been charged as of Monday night, and no later charging determination is established in the available reporting. His medical outlook also remains the police assessment: there is no independent hospital confirmation or subsequent recovery update. The investigation is open. His name and expected survival are now known; the camera record is the clearest identified opportunity to move beyond competing descriptions of the encounter.⁠1⁠2