The owner of a Ridgewood liquor store was arrested and charged for shooting an alleged shoplifter from Brooklyn on Monday evening.
Francisco Valerio, 53, was taken into custody and booked at the 104th Precinct in Ridgewood on a first-degree reckless endangerment charge after he accidentally shot a 20-year-old who was assaulting him during a chaotic struggle inside his Franja Wine and Liquors shop at 785 Wyckoff Ave., according to the NYPD.
Upon further investigation, Edwin Poaquiza and Kevin Pullutasi, 20, both from Brooklyn, entered the shop just before 7:45 p.m. and began to take bottles of liquor without paying. Valerio noticed the shoplifting in progress and chased both men out of his store. Both men returned a short while later and assaulted Valerio, who had a registered handgun. As the struggle escalated, Valerio allegedly fired a shot that struck Pullutasi in the abdomen. His accomplice Poaquiza ran from the store but was arrested moments later around the block at Ridgewood Place and Putnam Avenue.
EMS responded to the crime scene and rushed Pullutasi to Elmhurst Hospital where he was listed in stable condition and placed under arrest, police said
Investigators took Valerio, of Eldert Street in East New York, Brooklyn, into custody at his shop. He is awaiting arraignment in Queens Criminal Court. Poaquiza and Pullutasi are also awaiting arraignment on charges of robbery, assault and menacing. Pullatasi, of Summit Street in Red Hook, is expected to recover from his gunshot wound. Poaquiza lives on Van Buren Street in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, just across the Queens border.
