It happened at around 8 p.m. Sunday at a store near the corner of 125th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard.
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Surveillance video shows nine people inside the shop, including a man in a dark jacket with an FDNY logo talking to a man in a tan or yellow jacket.
The victim turns around and walks away, and that's when the man in a dark jacket shoots him.
Chaos ensued as some people ran out of the shop after the shot was fired. The suspect started walking out but stopped to the shoot the victim one more time before leaving him on the floor of the store.
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He returned just seconds later and appeared to reach into the victim's pocket.
The 36-year-old victim suffered gunshot wounds to the head and back. He was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The suspect remains on the loose.
The shooting was a rare instance of violence in the In the 28th Precinct, according to data from our ABC7 Safety tracker.
The murder rate for the last 12 months was 8.2 per 100,000 people, that's the same as Austin ,Texas. Central Harlem is safer than LA, Miami, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Oakland.
Compare that to the 14th Precinct which includes Times Square, Grand Central, Grand Central Terminal and Koreatown, which has 28.6 murders per 100,000 people.
Eyewitness News is tracking crime and safety across New York City and in your neighborhood
People who live in the area say this latest case of seemingly senseless violence is sad and frustrating.
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"It's a shame, because it's not just that someone was killed," one man told Eyewitness News. "We have destroyed a family or two, at this point."
Neighbors said the violence is an ongoing problem.
"I'm fed up with all of this," said a woman. "I don't understand why they can't talk things out. Why you gotta be killing each other? This is so sad, so sad."
There was another shooting at the same smoke shop last year and another at a smoke shop around the corner a couple of months ago.
Police are asking for the public's help tracking down the suspect in the latest shooting.
Call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit tips by visiting the CrimeStoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or by messaging on Twitter @NYPDTips.
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