A man ordering food at an East Harlem Chinese restaurant Saturday was ambushed by a masked gunman who shot him as he tried to flee, leaving him near death, officials and witnesses said.
The victim, in his late 20s, was inside Empire Corner II on Fifth Ave. and E. 116th St. at around 5:30 p.m when a man barged through the doors and pulled out a gun, police said.
The customer tackled the gunman during an ensuing struggle at the counter, Jimmy Wang, 11 told NYDailyNews, whose father Jinghong Wang, the shop’s owner, showed him surveillance video of the violence.
Witnesses heard six shots ring out on the sidewalk outside the eatery, where the victim was struck in the chest. The wounded man desperately banged on the windows of passing cars in the hopes of hitching a ride to the hospital, said witness Jonathan Arak, 50. He eventually made it to Harlem Hospital.
None of the restaurant’s employees were injured, the elder Wang said. The eatery kept making deliveries as cops investigated.
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