Heart-pounding video shows the moment a gunman opened fire on a man who was trying to protect his girlfriend from two perverts inside a Queens convenience store this week.
Footage obtained by The Post on Thursday shows the 34-year-old victim entering the One World convenience store in Richmond Hill and exchanging words with two men standing near the door.
The video shows one of the men shoving the victim and the victim struggling.
At that moment, the man standing behind Shobha raised a black gun.
The gunman fired one shot, which appeared to miss the victim but shattered the store’s glass door.
The gunman then continued firing, raining bullets down on the victim until he fell face down to the ground.
“The man immediately pulled out a gun and began firing more than eight times,” the store manager, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Washington Post on Wednesday.
The video shows two suspects stepping over the victim (still holding the gun) as they flee the store.
The badly injured man can be seen trying to crawl to the ground before the footage cuts.
Later in the video, which was viewed by The Washington Post but has not been made public, the victim’s boyfriend is seen running back into the store, screaming and embracing his loved one who has fallen to the ground.
The horrific scene left the staff member behind the counter so terrified he “fell to the floor”, the manager said.
Police said the shooting happened at 10:30 p.m. at a store on Jamaica Avenue near 120th Street, and the victim was shot four times in the back and twice in his right arm.
“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 victim was rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where police say he is in critical but stable condition.
Before the shooting, the store manager said, the two suspects tried to talk to the victim’s girlfriend, who had stopped by the store to buy a bottle of water and some candy.
The exchange infuriated the victim, who waited in his car and then apparently went inside to confront the pair.
The store manager said both the victim and her boyfriend were “regular customers” at the store.
“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 revolving door 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.”
