Store owner shot during struggle with robber in East New York, Brooklyn

EAST NEW YORK, Brooklyn (WABC) -- Police are searching for two men involved in a shooting and robbery in Brooklyn.

It happened after 11 p.m. Sunday inside a deli on New Lots Avenue in East New York.

One of the suspects grabbed cash from the register, while the other threatened the store owner with a gun.

"I told him don't put the gun to my face," said Nashwan Said, the victim.

That should have been an indication right off the bat that this cash grab wouldn't come without any hiccups.

"The guy came with the gun and he pointed it to my head and I moved it," Said said.

35-year-old Nashwan was sitting behind the counter at his deli on Bratford and New Lots Avenue Sunday night, when two men came into his store. One of them had a gun.

"He grabbed my hand and moved me back, and he went with his friend and he came around, and he started taking the money and he moved me back and he told me to sit down because he was probably scared I am going to do something to him," Said said.

The gunman's instinct was right. The struggle for the gun played out in the store's surveillance video.

"I was mad, it's not like someone can just come in and take something, my blood was hot, he was asking me about it and I wasn't going to give it to him, we don't accept this," Said said.

The fight didn't stop there. The gunman left with the cash. Said, still mad, threw a soda can at him.

"I had a can of soda and I wanted to scare him so I threw it at him, and it scared him away. It was empty because I was drinking it," Said said.

Said was grazed in his right hand. The bullet went thru his right hip. When asked why he kept grabbing for the gun, "I tried to rob him before he robbed me," Said said.

His father says he was upstairs when he heard the shots. "I was worried about my son," said Norman Said. "And my other son, he came from across the street with his friend, they want to chase them. But his brother said don't go, they have a gun."

He said he told his son to just give them the money the next time, that it was not worth his life.

The suspects fled the scene in a black Honda.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at http://WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.