Video shows man shoot into Bronx bodega filled with customers

THE BRONX, N.Y. (PIX11) -- Surveillance video showed a man opening fire into a bodega filled with customers in the Bronx on Friday.

“He could’ve hit a kid that was buying candy right there,” said bodega worker Jordy Pichardo Burgos.

The shooting happened just before midnight. A 42-year-old customer was wounded, grazed in the head by a bullet. The victim was purchasing some food as he has done for quite some time, according to Pichardo Burgos.

“That person now is traumatized. I just spoke to him, and he is really uncomfortable with the situation. He is a great client and now he has to live with staples in his head,” added Pichardo Burgos.

Pichardo Burgos works with his mother, Yomary Pichardo, in the family-owned business on East 180th Street and Grand Concourse. She said when she heard and saw the shots shatter the front glass door, she thought they were all going die. She immediately threw herself on the floor, called 911 and told everyone to hide. Surveillance video showed them hiding between the shelves in the back and bathroom.

It's not the first gun-related crime Pichardo has experienced in her bodega since she purchased it five years ago. She said she was robbed at gunpoint in 2022.

NYPD data shows the number of shooting victims is up 302 so far this year, compared to 285 at the same time last year.

Francisco Marte, from the Bodega and Small Business Group, emphasized that gun violence is not only killing people but also these businesses.   

“We have now an epidemic of shootings and we have to confront that. The mayor and the NYPD and elected officials should come together and they should focus in low-income communities. That is where you see more violence,” said Marte.

The perpetrator was walking a dog before shooting his weapon, according to police. No one has been arrested.