Murdered Manager at Pop; Suspect Arrested

Memorial outside of Pop; Photo: Killthebird.com

The news that the manager of Pop and Pop Burger, Tim Moore, was founded murdered at Pop on Saturday morning shocked co-workers and New Yorkers familiar with Moore's friendly, gracious demeanor. Moore, who managed the two Roy Liebenthal-owned restaurants, besides working at others (Lemon and Cafe Tabac), had been bludgeoned by a fire extinguisher during a robbery. Two employees, coming to work at 11AM, noticed blood on the floor and contacted police who found Moore's body in the basement. Workers sat outside the restaurants, crying and reminiscing Moore, who was universally loved. Liebenthal called him, "the best of the best," in a statement, and the newspapers noted Moore's ability to meet and greet the celebrities, such as Mick Jagger, Madonna, and Venus Williams at Liebenthal's restaurants.

Then on Sunday, police arrested six-month Pop porter Lerome Hilson, a Bronx resident who had been releaed from prison, after serving eight years for burglary, robbery, and weapons chargers. Police said that in the process of interviewing all employees, Hilson claimed he was not there, but then contradicted his statement. Some employees told reporters that there had been some robberies lately; those are being investigated for any possible links to Hilson.

This is very sad news. Gothamist has enjoyed a few of Liebenthal's restaurants, including Pop, and considering how close knit many restaurants need to be in order to remain successful, we can't imagine how devastating this must be for everyone there. Our sympathies go out to the Moore family and Pop employees and friends. Moore's mother in Georgia told reporters, "New York was his favorite place. He loved the excitement. Tim had every chance to move here, but he would not leave New York. He told me they had cleaned up the place and the police were everywhere. He said, 'Mom, you don't even have to worry about Times Square.' I never dreamed I'd have to worry about the restaurant he was in."

A memorial service for Moore will be held at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Grace Church at 802 Broadway. And Kill the Bird took pictures of the makeshift memorial outside of Pop.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in Food, News on May 3, 2004 1:24 AM

Comments [rss]

Jackie C

Tim will be Geatly missed! He taught me so very much. He had the greatest stories and iit is a sad time in NYC as the best will no longer live here anymore.

stereogum

> Being media-obssessed New Yorkers, we actually > thought for a moment a Law & Order was being

> filmed. The truth is/was pretty shocking

I walked by the crime scene at around 2 and thought the same thing (Law & Order).

Raje

Most violent crime occurs between people who know each other. It's very rare when a murder occurs randomly. They don't teach you that in school where the general rule is "Beware of Strangers".

j0sh

I used to go to pop pretty often, especially while I spent a year working from home- I used pop as my "conference room" when I needed to have meetings- I was never formally introduced to Tim, but he always recognized me when I came in and made sure to say hello and he even made sure the waitresses knew what my usual drink was- he seemed like a genuinely very nice person and it's such a shock to hear about something this awful happening..

witz

My fiance walked by the crime scene at about 2PM on Saturday, and the place was surrounded by press, plainsclothes detectives, covered windows, and CSI-types dressed in those crime scene scrubs. Being media-obssessed New Yorkers, we actually thought for a moment a Law & Order was being filmed. The truth is/was pretty shocking,

Jen

As terrible as this is, I have to say I'm not only relieved the police apprehended a suspect, I'm relieved that it was someone Moore knew. Yes, it's terrible, but random murders are scarier. There was a murder across the street from me at Columbia (the police knocked on my apartment and asked questions) and the murderer turned out to be the murder victim's ex-boyfriend.