An unruly man shot two employees of a Brooklyn deli as the workers tried to remove him from the store Tuesday morning, police sources said.
Harry Austin, 41, blasted away inside Red Hook’s Famous Deli and Grocery on Mill Street between Hicks and Henry streets at around 8:40 a.m., according to police.
Witnesses said that the gunman harassed a regular customer inside the deli and punched the customer in head before the shooting, but police could not confirm the account.
“He engaged in a verbal and physical altercation with one of the bodega employees,” said NYPD Inspector Michael Coyle of the Brooklyn South Detective Bureau. “The same individual returned a short time later brandishing a firearm.”
The victims, identified by co-workers as, Maged Noman, 33, and Ramon Falu, 52, took a bullet each and were in serious but stable condition at area hospitals, cops said.
Another worker, Mustafa Almansoori, 27, who was not in the store at the time of the shooting said that Noman was putting milk in the refrigerator when he was shot.
“He had nothing to do with it,” said Almansoori.
The younger man was shot in the back and was taken to Lutheran Hospital and the 52-year-old, who was shot in the left torso, was taken to New York Methodist Hospital.
Responding officers from the housing and patrol units arrested Austin at the scene. Cops recovered a .9mm semi-automatic handgun from the suspect.
Charges were pending.