A Brooklyn public school paraprofessional was shot in the head Tuesday just a block from campus, leaving him clinging to life, police sources said.
The 19-year-old teacher’s assistant was leaving the school and heading to a deli at the corner of Avenue M and Utica Ave. in Flatlands when a gunman fired off at least four rounds around 2:50 p.m., according to cops and sources.
He was shot steps from P.S. 203 Floyd Bennett School, where he works, police said.
A man who witnessed the chaos said he was “face-to-face” with the shooter.
“There were gunshots — pop, pop, pop,” Chris Ramotar, 55, told the Daily News. “He looked at me and I looked at him. He was trying to hide his face. He put the gun in his hoodie. I was like, are you going to come after me? I was ready to drop everything and run.”
The wounded man ran into Star’s Mini Market on the corner, where he collapsed.
“They shot him outside and he was trying to run inside,” a man who works in the store told The News. “He fell face-up inside our door.”
The shooter, dressed in a red hooded sweatshirt, red do-rag and red sweatpants fired at least one shot into the market.
The gunman took off in a dark-colored sedan, sources said.
Medics rushed the victim to Brookdale University Hospital in critical condition.
“I was in a state of shock,” Ramotar said.
Police believe the victim was the intended target, according to sources.
Schools Chancellor David Banks initially described the incident as “random.”
He said in a statement that the Department of Education was working with the police department to increase security around the school.
“I am absolutely heartbroken and outraged that one of our dedicated employees was senselessly a victim of random gun violence,” Banks said. “Our educators, our students, and our families deserve better than living with the threat of gun violence.”
In a tweet, Mayor Adams lamented the shooting as a “tragedy.”
“The rivers of violence bringing guns into our communities didn’t begin in our city but they will end here,” he stated. “We will keep our city safe.”
There were no immediate arrests as police worked to track down the shooter.
