Sandy Shelonchik says she’s had a tough time trying to hold it together after the sudden death of her brother, Michael Shelonchik.

“It’s so cliche, but he didn’t deserve this,” she said through tears.

The circumstances surrounding 53-year-old Shelonchik’s death are still coming together, but police say it happened outside of 532 Neptune Avenue in Coney Island, Brooklyn.

A police source says Shelonchik went outside to speak to someone on the sidewalk and had a livery driver waiting for him. The source says when he was done talking to the person, he got in the cab and things immediately took a turn.

Police say the car was stopped on Neptune Avenue when two people opened the rear door and started punching the victim in the head and face. They took the victim’s chain from his neck and fled on foot, police said.

The victim told the driver he was fine, but as they drove off, he fell unconscious, according to the source. He was taken to the hospital where he later died.

“I’m absolutely crushed, I’m numb,” Sandy Shelonchik said. “I cannot believe these guys murdered a guy for a chain.”

“He was full of life,” Shelonchik’s brother Ronnie said. “He never did a bad thing in his life, never hurt nobody; if people needed help, he would help them.”

Police have released photos and surveillance video from a nearby supermarket of the two individuals they’re looking for.

Fernando Matteo of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers says it didn’t need to end this way. In the wake of this incident, he’s calling on the Taxi and Limousine Commission to make changes to its own rule that prohibits drivers from automatically locking rear doors.

“It puts the driver in danger and the passenger in danger,” Matteo said.

But that rule was put in place so that passengers could easily get out of a car if they felt threatened by a driver. Asked if he’s worried changing the rule could create a new problem, Matteo said, “Not at all.”

“These drivers are not only drug tested, these drivers have a privilege that very few people have and that’s to have a TLC license,” he said.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission issued a statement Thursday afternoon in response, saying in part: “This incident is still under investigation and it is unclear if modifying TLC rules would have impacted the tragic outcome.”

“This the Brooklyn coming out in me,” Sandy Shelonchik said. “If I had my choice — the two guys that did this to him — they’d be exactly where he is right now. But I want them found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The Shelonchik family has started a GoFundMe to help pay for funeral arrangements.

Anyone with information regarding the individuals police are looking for is urged to call Crimestoppers at 800-577-TIPS.