WARNING: The following footage may be distressing to some (Credit: Pop’s on 17)
The driver of a cherry-red Bentley was riddled with bullets in Chelsea early Sunday by an attacker who fled in his Mercedes SUV.
The shooting shocked the tony neighborhood around Seventh Avenue and West 17th Street, where the shiny Bentley — now featuring five stark bullet holes in the driver’s-side window — sat after the 5:30 a.m. violence near the trendy Cafeteria restaurant.
Victim Garry J. Rey, 27, was hit twice in the back and once in the shoulder. He was recovering at Bellevue Hospital and expected to survive, police sources said.
“I could hear yelling, then shots,” said Phineas Forde, 24, who lives in the neighborhood. “I got down. You don’t expect that here.”
Forde said he also heard a car peeling out.
Another witness heard the gunfire and saw the Bentley heading in the wrong direction on Seventh Avenue.
“I’m surprised. It’s Chelsea. It’s supposed to be safe,’’ the witness told The Post. “You don’t really hear about crime around here.”
The motive for the shooting is unclear, though Rey has a rap sheet that includes charges such as identity theft and grand larceny, police sources said.
Surveillance footage from a nearby shop shows two men getting into the Bentley before another man hops out of the dark silver Mercedes, runs to the Bentley’s driver side and opens fire.
The Bentley speeds off, out of the frame, while a moment later the SUV can be seen pulling out of a parking spot nearby.
The Bentley eventually came to a stop on Seventh Avenue. Later in the morning, detectives combed the vehicle for evidence. A brown, bloodspattered coat sat on a chair next to the car.
Rey had been off the radar for several days, an acquaintance told The Post.
“I’ve been calling him since last week, but I wasn’t getting any answer,” said Tranance Sabb, who sold Rey one of her cars but was trying to recover it after he couldn’t make the payments.
Rey has at least four prior arrests, according to sources, including for a 2011 credit-card and gift-card scam in Queens in which he was charged with grand larceny, criminal mischief and fraud.
He and a pal were caught attempting the scam at a convenience store near the Queens DA’s Office.
Rey also was arrested in January in Brooklyn on charges of grand larceny, identity theft, criminal possession of stolen property, petty theft and other charges. He pleaded not guilty and is due in Brooklyn Criminal Court next month in the case.
Additional reporting by Reuven Fenton and C.J. Sullivan