Pic released of suspect in Bx. fatal stray bullet deli shooting

The NYPD released a surveillance image Tuesday of the suspect wanted for the caught-on-video fatal stray bullet shooting of a 29-year-old man ordering breakfast at a Bronx deli.

Cops are asking the public’s help identifying and tracking down the suspect (inset).

Victim Stefon Barnes was shot in the right thigh inside the Tremont Gourmet Deli on E. Tremont Ave. near Marmion Ave. in East Tremont about 4:20 a.m. on Sunday.

Barnes’ father said his son was in the deli getting breakfast after a shift working as a party promoter.

“[They’re] parties for kids of his age, like little dance parties,” Martin Barnes told the Daily News on Monday. “He slid out from that party and was getting breakfast inside the deli.”

At least 15 people were in the deli in the moments before the shooting occurred, surveillance video from inside the store obtained by The News shows.

At least five of the customers, including a teen girl sporting bunny ears, were taking cell phone videos of each other playfully dancing with canisters of chips and other snacks.

Barnes, dressed in black, is looking over a rack of chips when the gunman, standing by the door wearing a hoodie and surgical mask, begins arguing with a heavyset man in a black jacket with white designs on its back and sleeves, the video shows.

A moment later, the masked crook pulls a gun from his waistband with his left hand but keeps it low and begins to pat his victim down.

Seeing the gun, the heavyset man grabs the would-be robber’s wrist, aiming the gun at the ground. As the two struggle a woman behind them sidesteps out of the way. Most of the people in the store were unaware of what was happening, with the exception of an employee behind the counter, who pointed for a co-worker off-camera to take a look.

After a few seconds, a man in a blue hat storms in to help the robbery victim in the black-and-white jacket. As the three struggle over the weapon, the gun goes off, striking Barnes, who was not involved in the fight, in the upper leg, the video shows.

“That’s when the altercation happened with the other two gentlemen and he got caught in the crossfire,” Martin Barnes said of his son. “He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Barnes steps to his left as the noise from the shot startles everyone in the deli. The party promoter is the first to hobble out of the store, while the man in the blue hat puts the gunman in a headlock and the man in the black-and-white jacket tries to wrestle the gun away from him, the video shows.

The three men back into a display of snacks as panicked customers run both to the door and to the back of the store. At least two workers duck behind the counter.

Barnes and two others manage to get out before the three men fighting block the door, still struggling with one another.

Surveillance video outside the store shows Barnes stepping behind a parked car toward a bicycle lane, nursing his wounded leg. He ultimately hides behind a parked car.

The man in the blue hat manages to yank the gunman away from the door, throwing him onto the floor as the heavyset man runs out with the gun.

Still in the store, the gunman jumps up and starts trading blows with the man in the blue hat before everyone exits. During the entire ordeal, a man dressed in red stood in the center of the crowd, watching everything.

Medics rushed Barnes to St. Barnabas Hospital, but he could not be saved.

The image of the gunman police released by cops shows the suspect when he had the surgical mask off and the hoodie down.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.