According to witnesses and surveillance footage, the victim of a shooting inside a Queens convenience store was trying to protect his girlfriend from two perverts when one of them opened fire on him, forcing him to flee for his life.
Footage obtained by The Washington Post shows a distraught woman crouching down and embracing her boyfriend as he lies bleeding on the ground inside the One World convenience store in Richmond Hill on Monday night.
“She screamed,” the store manager, who declined to give her name, recalled in an interview Wednesday.
Authorities said the 34-year-old victim, whose identity has not been released, was shot four times in the back and twice in the right arm in the shooting that happened at about 10:30 p.m. at a store on Jamaica Avenue near 120th Street.
“It’s very sad,” the manager said, adding that in New York City, “if you come in with your girlfriend for a drink, you could get shot.”
The video shows the suspected shooter and another man near the entrance attempting to speak with the victim’s female friend, who entered the store shortly after them and bought a bottle of water and some candy.
“They were trying to flirt with her and get her phone number,” the manager said. “They said they were from another state.”
According to the video, the woman escaped from the pursuers and left the store, but her boyfriend, who had been waiting in a car outside the store, came in a short time later and confronted the pursuers.
The video shows the enraged boyfriend arguing with a man standing by the door, after which the two begin fighting.
The manager said the gunman, dressed all in black with a hat over his dreadlocks, then pulled a gun from his waistband.
Holding the gun with both hands, he pointed it over his accomplice’s left shoulder and fired a shot at the boyfriend, who had his back to the store door facing his two rivals.
“He immediately pulled out a gun and began firing no less than eight times,” the manager said.
The video shows bloodstains on the victim’s clothing and he falls forward, hits the floor, then falls onto his back.
The suspects, who initially arrived on the scene in a black vehicle, sped away before the victim’s boyfriend ran back into the store, screaming and embracing his loved one.
“They ran off and we called 911,” the manager recalled.
The horrific scene left the staff member behind the counter so terrified he “fell to the floor”, the manager said.
The victim was rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he remained in serious condition Wednesday, police said.
The store manager said both the victim and her boyfriend were “regular customers” of the store, whose front door was still smashed to pieces on Wednesday.
“I hope he makes a full recovery. He’s a good guy,” he said.
The clerk blamed the city’s gun violence problem and a circular criminal justice system that allows criminals to return to the streets.
“You have someone with a gun, you get arrested, and within 24 hours you’re out on the street. It’s crazy,” the manager said.
“Do you think I would walk around New York City with my wife and four kids?” the man added. “I’d drive myself crazy.”
The 102nd Precinct, which covers the area where Monday’s violence occurred, has seen an increase in shootings this year.
According to the latest statistics from the NYPD, there have been seven shootings in the department’s jurisdiction so far this year, with 11 people injured, compared to five shootings with seven injuries in the same period in 2023.
“The mayor is focused on things that bring revenue to the city, but he’s not focused on putting guns on the streets,” the manager said of Mayor Eric Adams.
“Jamaica Street has a lot of gun crime,” he added. “The city needs to address the issue of people losing their lives to guns on the street.”
