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One Man Killed and Bystander Injured in Bed-Stuy Deli Shooting, NYPD Says

By  Noah  Hurowitz Aidan Gardiner and Camille Bautista | September 28, 2016 8:53am | Updated on September 28, 2016 11:08am

 Two people were shot inside a Tompkins Avenue deli, police said.
Two people were shot inside a Tompkins Avenue deli, police said.
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DNAinfo/Noah Hurowitz

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — A man was killed and a bystander wounded by a gunman who burst into a Tompkins Avenue deli and opened fire Wednesday morning, police said.

The 38-year-old victim, who was identified by relatives as Neil Thompson, was inside Three Stars Deli & Grocery at 164 Tompkins Ave., near Hart Street, at about 7:30 a.m. when he was shot to death by a gunman wearing a green hoodie, an NYPD spokesman said. 

Thompson, who was believed to have been the intended target, was hit multiple times in the torso and pronounced dead at Woodhull Medical Center, police said.

"I'm going to miss him," his father, Deryck Thompson, 67, said, adding that his son was a "bundle of energy."

Thompson came to the United States from Guyana with relatives in 1994, his father said, and helped oversee the family-owned E.N.& S. Laundromat down the block from the Tompkins Avenue deli.

"He wasn't a troublemaker or fighter, he wasn't violent," his father said. "He was very, very hardworking. I wish he could've left his energy with me."

Deryck Thompson, 67, remembers his son, Neil Thompson, who was shot and killed at a deli on Tompkins Avenue near Hart Street on Wednesday morning. Photo credit: DNAinfo/Camille Bautista

On Wednesday morning, Thompson was working at the laundromat and went to the nearby bodega to buy juice — a trip that was part of his daily routine, his father added.

A worker at the deli who declined to give his name said the shooting happened quickly and he did not see any altercation between the gunman or victims.

"I called the cops and tried to help him," he said of Thompson. "There was blood coming from his mouth."

"Everybody feels sad. Because it happened right in front of your face. You feel like somebody died but you can't help them."

A 64-year-old man, who was a bystander, was hit once in the torso and treated at Kings County Hospital, where he's listed in stable condition, police said.

Locals said Thompson and the second victim, who lived nearby and was a regular customer at the deli, both went out of their way to help neighbors on the block.

The suspect fled west on Hart Street and wasn't immediately arrested, police said.

It wasn't immediately clear what sparked the shooting.