A knife fight sparked by an accidental bump between strangers on a Manhattan street ended with a bike shop worker dead and his adversary wounded and in handcuffs.
Michael Gilligbauer, 31, was walking with a co-workers when he bumped into his killer on E. 10th St. near Avenue C in the East Village at about 10:15 p.m. Saturday, cops said.
The two men didn’t know each other but started to argue and both pulled out knives, police sources said.
“A guy bumped my son and they started fighting, and instead of hitting him with his hands he stabbed my son to death,” Gilligbauer’s distraught mother, who identified herself as Johanna, told the Daily News Sunday. “My son died in the street.”
Gilligbauer was stabbed multiple times in the body while his 28-year-old rival suffered a stab wound to the back, police said.
Gilligbauer’s mother spoke to the co-worker after her son’s slaying.
“His co-worker doesn’t understand,'” she said.. “He said, ‘Ma, it happened so fast!’ He said by the time he turned around Michael was gasping for air, spitting out blood.”
Medics took Gilligbauer to Mount Sinai Beth Israel, but he couldn’t be saved.
The survivor, whose name was not immediately released, was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. He’s in police custody and charges against him are pending, cops said.
Gilligbauer worked at a nearby bike shop, Bike Fix NYC on E. Sixth St., and was on his way to his girlfriend’s home in Harlem when he was killed.
“He was there late because there was a customer who wanted to pick up their bike, so they had to finish it,” his mother said. “He was good with his hands. Bicycles, cell phones, electronics, computers, entertainment systems, cars. My son was a versatile man, never afraid of work.”
Gilligbauer worked at the shop for the past five years, owner Will Hough told The News.
“He was very passionate for fixing bikes. He was very good with small parts. He was getting really good with scooters,” Hough said. “Businesswise he’s a big loss, and personally he’s a big loss. … He was very passionate. he was a product of the Lower East Side.”
Hough left the shop at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and Gilligbauer was still there with his colleague.
“When they left, Michael was dropping something off over at his mother’s and then he was staying uptown in Harlem with his girlfriend,” Hough said. “They were both walking to the train station, from what I hear, and somewhere along before they got on the train [they] got into an argument with someone. Random dude. As far as I know it was someone he didn’t even know.”
Hough got word from Gilligbauer’s rattled co-worker about 1 a.m. Sunday that Gilligbauer was in the hospital.
“I thought he was going to end up with stitches or something,” Hough said. “When [Gilligbauer’s co-worker] called me back later we talked briefly, but he was messed up. He saw it happen. It happened really fast.”
A family friend, Miriam Rivera, said Gilligbauer had a knack for taking things apart and putting them back together since childhood.
“He worked on motorcycle bikes, anything he can. He’s good with his hands,” Rivera said. “This man would take a cell phone apart and put them together.”
She was shocked to learn that he died. Gilligbauer would often spend time in Rivera’s apartment, four floors down from where his family lived in the Riis Houses just a few blocks from the crime scene.
“I just don’t get it. It can’t be over just a bump. A bump is ‘Excuse me,’ and you keep it moving,” Rivera said. “You can’t go beyond that. I don’t know. I’m just stuck.”
Gilligbauer’s mother said she hugged and kissed her son outside their building less than an hour before the stabbing, telling him, “Papi, I love you.”
“And then on the way home a simple bump killed my son,” she said.
“I’m accepting my reality,” she said. “But I’ll tell you this, my son is so good that in death he is still doing good. My son is an organ donor, so whoever gets my son’s heart, he will appreciate that.”
Gilligbauer had a brother and two sisters plus two sons, ages 9 and 8, who live in Pennsylvania with their mother.
“Mikey was an amazing person, very energetic, full of life. You need him [and] he was the first person there,” his mother recounted. “He loved his family and friends. He was an amazing young man and an amazing son. … There was nothing Michael wouldn’t do for his boys.”
She added, “I had to tell my other son, ‘Don’t get into any altercations. I don’t want to bury my two sons.'”
She’s dreading the conversation with Gilligbauer’s two sons.
“I can’t tell his sons, I can’t tell my grandsons. I just don’t understand,” she said. “I’m hoping that this is just a dream, and I’m going to wake up and my son’s going to say, ‘Gotcha!”
