PLAINFIELD -- Family, friends and loyal customers mourned the death of Wilson "Miguel" Valdez today with a makeshift memorial outside of the family-owned bodega where he worked.

Valdez, 31, was killed on Thursday afternoon when shots rang out in front of the bodega, Brother's Supermarket at the corner of 6th Street and Berckman Avenue, around 2:30 p.m., according to police.

Valdez's family said a fight had broken out between two rival gangs and was brought inside the bodega when one of the gang members entered the store. They said Valdez was inside with a pregnant woman and her four-year-old daughter, and that when the shots were fired, the girl went running to the front of the store. Valdez ran after her and was shot through the glass window, they said. No one else in the store was injured, police said.

Valdez leaves behind an 8-year-old son and a longtime girlfriend, the family said.

"He was more like a son," said Angel Caba, Valdez's uncle who owns the bodega. "He's been working here 10 years. He called me dad."

Police apprehended and charged two men in connection with the homicide after they attempted to flee and crashed into an SUV just blocks away. Abdul Ward, 23, of Plainfield, is charged with murder, multiple weapons offenses and eluding police. Arthur Negron, 24, of Elizabeth, was charged with several related weapons offenses.

Ward and Negron were subsequently taken into custody, with bail set at $1 million and $500,000, respectively. The two occupants of the SUV and a pedestrian struck during the crash were treated for non life-threatening injuries, police said.

Valdez's cousin Ileana Caba said it gives her family some peace that two men have been arrested.

"I think the crime in this area is really high, but for it to happen to someone so close to us..." Ileana Caba said.

Customers of the bodega said they were shocked Valdez had died but not surprised he was protecting a young girl and described him as hard-working, smart and warm.

"I called him son and he called me mom," said Evelyn Onyeyirim, who had come to the bodega to buy a lottery ticket Friday afternoon and brought to tears when she learned of Valdez's death. "Oh my god, I didn't know. Oh, my son. I would tell him he was too smart and say, 'You go back to school, you don't stay here.' I can't believe Miguel is gone."

Harry DeCosey Jr. said he's known Valdez since they were teenagers and that Valdez and his family often came by Latin Bar, just down the block, where DeCosey Jr. works.

"They are such a positive family, it kills me to see them like this," DeCosey Jr. said. "He would always keep you laughing. He'd always talk to my little daughter when I would bring her to the store or offer her a piece of candy for free. He was a good dude, a really good dude. To see him go like that, I'm shocked. He was a hard-working man who opened the store every morning and was the last to leave at night."

Longtime neighborhood residents like Willie Martin said this area has always been a hotspot for crime.

"This corner has always been rough, always," Martin said. "I had a friend who died in the 80s. And we fought back then, but we used to fight with our hands. Nobody was shooting. Now these kids all have guns."

Margaret Fears brought a dozen white roses to the family's home, just across the street from the bodega.

"He was such a nice man, such a handsome man," Fears said. "I didn't see him as often anymore because I didn't like the kids hanging out in the area. You cross over the street right here and it's like being in a different neighborhood."

The death of Valdez remains under joint investigation by the Union County Homicide Task Force and the Plainfield Police Division. Anyone with information about this matter is being urged to contact Union County Prosecutor's Office Sgt. Kevin Grimmer at 908-447-3777 or Detective Janet Lopez at 908-347-8491.

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Jessica Remo may be reached at jremo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaRemoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.