A street vendor is recovering from a gunshot wound after a man shot him in the back in Manhattan on Friday, police said.
Police responding to a 911 call of an assault found the 21-year-old victim with a gunshot wound to the back on Canal St. near Greene St. in SoHo around 1 p.m., police said.
Medics rushed the victim to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition, police said.
The victim, who works as a street vendor, was selling fake designer handbags when the gunman, eagerly hearing he was being followed, opened fire, another vendor who witnessed the shooting told the Daily News.
‘He’s paranoid. He thinks people are following him,” said the seller, who gave his name as Mohammed. “So he shot him in the back.”
Danny O’Boyle, 27, was in his apartment overlooking Canal St. when he heard the shots and looked out his window and saw the victim lying injured in the street below.
“I heard a couple shots,” O’Boyle said. “He was lying on the ground, face up, screaming. It’s a little crazy here. There are always a lot of fights. I’m not surprised.”
About 20 street vendors who were forced to pack up their wares while detectives investigated the shooting were spotted outside the police cordon after the incident.
No arrests have been made.
