A man was shot in the head and critically wounded on Staten Island Tuesday evening, police said.
Police believe the 6 p.m. shooting on Victory Blvd. near Bay St. in Tompkinsville was drug-related, according to cop sources.
The shooter was hanging out in the Elegant Deli for about two hours, allegedly dealing drugs, when the 22-year-old victim’s girlfriend came in and confronted him, the deli’s manager told the Daily News. The manager didn’t give his name.
Police investigate a shooting on Victory Blvd. and Bay St. in Staten Island on Tuesday. (Gardiner Anderson/for New York Daily News)
“If you keep doing it, something bad is going to happen to you,” the woman warned, though it wasn’t clear what she meant, the deli manager recounted.
“He was in my store for two hours, and he asked to use the phone. He sells drugs in my store. They drive me crazy, but the cops do nothing,” the manager alleged.
The shooter asked the store manager to use the store phone, and a car pulled up not long afterward. A man got out, and the shooter stepped outside and shot the man in the head.
The shooter, who wore a gray hoodie, and two other men then ran west toward Monroe Ave., cop sources said. Medics rushed the victim to Richmond University Medical Center in critical condition.
The ambush happened just steps from the spot where Eric Garner died after now-fired NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo put him in a chokehold in 2014.
Copyright © 2021, New York Daily News
Copyright © 2021, New York Daily News