By Michael O. Allen and Neil H. Reisner, Record Staff Writers | Sunday, May 3, 1992
The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | A01
The owner of a Garfield jewelry store was killed Saturday afternoon, apparently beaten during a robbery.
Broniflaw Oreda, 57, of Lyndhurst, owner of Bruno Jewelers at 59 Passaic St., north of Palisade Avenue, was found by police after they received a phone call from a burglar alarm company at 4:59 p.m.
Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said police found Oreda’s bloody body in the back of the store. A baseball bat was lying nearby, he said.
“We believe robbery was the motive,” Fahy said. “We believe he resisted, but it’s too soon to tell.”
Two store showcases were smashed, but Fahy said he did not yet know whether anything was taken. The investigation continued into the evening, as police cordoned off the storefront and collected evidence.
Melissa Eisenhower, 35, lives on Palisade Avenue and can see the rear of the store from her porch. She said she suspected something was amiss when she saw a man leap over a retaining wall behind the store and run down Passaic Street about an hour before police arrived on the scene.
“I closed my windows right away, because I thought somebody was going to come inside my house. . . . I grabbed my son and closed the window,” she said. She described the man as white, with a medium build, clean-shaven, possibly with short brown hair, and wearing jeans and a short-sleeve shirt. But other neighbors said that man may have been another resident of the block.
Neighborhood merchants and residents said they did not really know Oreda, whom they referred to only as “Bruno” or “Mr. Bruno.” Most described him as a quiet, friendly man who liked to stand just inside his store, gaze out the window, and chat.
Neighbors said Oreda was about 5-foot-7, with olive skin and thinning blond hair, who always wore a coat and tie and who spoke broken English with an accent.
“He’s such a nice guy; they didn’t have to do that,” Eisenhower said, adding that he would pocket the money she paid for minor jewelry repairs instead of putting it in any kind of register or cash box. “I don’t think he had so much money in there. He didn’t have a big selection.”
The shop is in a working-class neighborhood where stores occupy the first floors of small two- and three-story apartment buildings. Above the shop window is a black awning and a white sign; in the window, a sign advertises watch batteries, a layaway plan, and jewelry repairs. Nearby are a liquor store, a beauty salon, a leather store, a deli, and a photo studio. A meat and fish market closed within the last few months. Neighbors said Oreda had owned his shop there for about three years.
George Ryerson, 30, who lives in the neighborhood, said three police officers drove up to the store about 5 p.m., two in uniform and one in civilian clothes. “They knew something was up,” he said, describing how the plainclothes officer approached the door then immediately went back to the car to don a bulletproof vest. The officers broke through the security door and entered the shop with guns drawn, Ryerson said.
Other neighbors wondered how a robber could enter the store, because the jeweler kept the door locked, buzzing customers in through a security door.
“That’s why I don’t know how it happened,” said Kelvin Tavarez, 24, who works at Giany’s Liquors. “It’s not like just anybody can get in. You have to be buzzed in to get inside.”
Oreda’s merchant neighbors said this was the first major crime on the block. Tavarez’s mother, Gianilda, said she’s concerned. “I’m scared. I’m the owner of a liquor store, and I keep late hours,” she said.
Record Staff Writer Laurie C. Merrill contributed to this article.
ID: 17376143 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)
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