One man was shot dead and another wounded as gunfire erupted at an Upper East Side car repair shop Monday morning, police said.
The bullets flew on East 95th Street between First and Second avenues around 9:30 a.m., striking a 43-year-old in the back and a 33-year-old in the head and shoulder, cops said.
Both men were taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital. The younger man was pronounced dead at the hospital, cops said.
Police said a dispute at the auto shop sparked the shooting, but it was unknown what the fight was over and no arrests have been made.
“It sounded like a thud of some sort,” said neighbor William Chen, 23. “The auto mechanic shop, they’re constantly moving stuff. It didn’t strike me as suspicious.
“They pulled the two guys out and took them to some hospitals,” Chen said. “One of them was unresponsive, the other was on the oxygen mask.”
He said the wounded man “was actively trying to adjust his oxygen mask.
“It’s obviously a tragedy,” he added. “Things like this don’t just happen. It’s very sad and crazy that it happened at all. It’s typically a very quiet street.”
Another local said the dead man was a “receptionist and he made the appointments” at the repair shop.
“It was a big surprise to me,” she said. “It’s not the kind of stuff we hear around here. The nicest guy in the world. They are the coolest people in that mechanic shop. They help everybody out.”
Area resident Felix Negron, 67, agreed.
“If I ever have a problem with my wheelchair they help me fix it,” Negron said. “They’re not greedy people.”
The suspect, who was wearing a face mask, fled in a blue Chevy Traverse SUV toward the FDR Drive, police sources said.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon