By Rich Bockmann
An intruder who broke in through the ceiling at a Met food market in Jamaica early Tuesday morning was shot and killed by a market employee, according to the NYPD.
Police said they responded to the store, on the corner of 173rd Street and Jamaica Avenue, at about 2:15 a.m. and found 27-year old Mamadou Koureichi, of 88-09 148th St., unconscious and unresponsive with a gunshot wound to his torso.
When EMS personnel arrived, they pronounced him dead, the NYPD said.
Police said the unidentified employee who shot Koureichi had not been charged with a crime.
The cops were still searching for a second suspect.
Store manager Louis Rodriguez and a handful of employees showed up for work Tuesday morning to find police had closed off the store as they conducted their investigation.
Debris covered the floor near the entrance, below a hole that had been broken through the ceiling.
Sammy Al Zokari, a clerk at a nearby deli, said he did not hear any gunshots when he was working the late night shift, but did hear the store’s alarm go off and police arrived about 15 minutes later.
“They came in and said two people tried to break in and a security guard killed one with a shotgun,” he said.
Al Zokari said police were interested in an image his security camera had captured of a person dressed in dark pants and a gray top using the payphone outside his deli at about 2:50 a.m.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
