Holly MatkinQueens, NY – Security footage captured the moment when a gunman armed with multiple weapons repeatedly shot a deli owner inside a South Ozone Park business late last week (video below).
The horrific attack occurred at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 16 at the Rockaway Express Deli located at 11-02 Rockaway Boulevard, the Queens Patch reported.
Queens District Attorney Melina Katz said 47-year-old Fahmi Kaid was working behind the counter when 35-year-old Donnie Hudson suddenly stormed into the business and opened fire on him.
Security footage showed the masked suspect shooting the deli co-owner at point-blank range with a .40-caliber handgun, the New York Daily News reported.
Kaid immediately grabbed his head and fell backwards onto the floor as Hudson continued firing at him, the video showed.
The gunman the left the store and returned a moment later with a rifle.
The frantic victim was on the ground bleeding from his head when Hudson walked back inside, the video showed.
Hudson then held the rifle up over the counter and fired down at Kaid repeatedly.
The store owner scrambled towards the counter and tried in vain to take cover as blood pooled on the floor beneath him, the video showed.
Kaid called for help as soon as the gunman fled the scene.
“I was shocked. I didn’t know why he started shooting at me. I fell to the floor,” Kaid later told CBS News. “I called the cops; I called my brother. I said ‘call the ambulance, call the cops.’ I was bleeding.”
Kaid was rushed to the hospital with a gunshot to his wrist, a graze wound to his head, a volar forearm laceration and injury to his radial artery, Katz told the Queens Patch.
“Thank God he survived,” Kaid’s nephew, Methanad Keld, told the New York Daily News. “[The shooter] didn’t steal nothing, not even a bottle of water. There was no reason behind this… I could never have predicted this. Nobody could expect this.”
J.R. Rivera, a friend of Kaid’s, said it is a miracle Kaid is still alive.
“An angel said ‘Not today,’” Rivera told the New York Daily News. “I would have never thought this would happen; you can take that to the bank.”
Investigators said a 27-year-old victim was also shot in the wrist during the attack, CBS News reported.
Kaid’s family said the shop co-owner is a married father of six children.
Police located Hudson in the area of 135th Avenue and 114th Street approximately four hours after the shooting, according to the Queens Patch.
Investigators said he was carrying both guns allegedly used in the attack, as well as several loaded .223 magazines and roughly 150 rounds of ammunition, the New York Daily News reported.
Police said Hudson told detectives that deli employees had been stealing from his residence, according to WABC.
Keld said Hudson had come to the city from Tennessee and that he previously stayed at a nearby homeless shelter before he was able to get an apartment above the deli.
“He was quiet and friendly, never showed any sign of this,” Keld told the New York Daily News. “He never bothered anybody. He was a regular customer, came in every day for beer and sandwiches.”
Hudson has been charged with attempted murder, assault, and several counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
He faces up to 25 years in prison if he is convicted, the New York Daily News reported.
Hudson was denied bail during an arraignment hearing late last week.
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. Warning – Graphic Content:
Extremely graphic
A black male suspect has been arrested for allegedly trying to kill an Arab deli shop worker in South Ozone Park, Queens, #NYC on Feb. 15. The suspect shoots the worker in the face w/a pistol before returning & using a rifle. He survived.pic.twitter.com/0oVmpTvghJ
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) February 18, 2023
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