Surveillance video released Wednesday shows the crazed clash that ended with a Queens liquor store owner facing charges for accidentally shooting the shoplifter he was pistol-whipping.
Shop owner Francisco Valerio was charged with assault, reckless endangerment and weapon possession.
Video showing Valerio pistol-whipping the robber and shooting him in the stomach also shows what took place in the minute and a half between the time two young men walked into a liquor store and when one of them lay bleeding on the sidewalk outside.
Advocacy group United Bodegas of America released the footage Wednesday.
“We are threatened, robbed, assaulted and looted everyday and the bad guys get away with it”, said Radahmes Rodriguez, President of the organization. “They are freed without bail and nothing ever happens to them. When we fight back we are jailed and in some cases prosecuted. This must stop.”
Valerio, 53, was inside Franja Wines and Liquors on Wyckoff Ave. around 7:45 p.m. Monday when Kevin Pullutasi and Edwin Poaquiza, both 20, entered.
Video shows the two would-be shoplifters enter the store, with Pullutasi heading toward the back and Poaquiza engaging with Valerio at the counter. When Valerio walks away, Poaquiza removes a bottle from the shelf, tucks it inside his jacket and then places it back on the shelf.
A previous customer with his dog is about to leave the store when he stops and points toward Poaquiza. Luis Valerio comes into sight of the camera with Pullutasi following.
Within 30 seconds of arriving, Pullutasi and Paoquiza are being pulled toward the door by the Valerios and pushed outside.
Another video shows the interaction on the sidewalk, with the crooks coming out of the store and beginning to walk away while the Valerios stand in the doorway. Pullutasi suddenly doubles back, lunging for the door and kicking it before turning to walk away again.
Luis Valerio emerges from the store and appears to yell something, and Pullutasi dumps his backpack on the sidewalk before running for the open door and delivering a flying kick.
A few seconds later the Valerios run outside, and Francisco Valerio strikes Pullutasi, who stumbles to the ground and tries repeatedly to try stand up again. One of two bystanders who stopped to watch the scene unfold runs away.
About a minute and a half elapsed between the time Pullutasi and Poaquiza entered Franja Liquors and when Pullutasi was shot.
Pullutasi, unable to regain his footing, drags himself along the sidewalk to rest his back against a parked car. Francisco Valerio and Poaquiza stand by the door, until the liquor store owner goes to briefly check on Pullutasi about 30 seconds later.
Soon after, Luis Valerio walks over to Pullutasi, where blood is now covering his stomach, and the Valerios go back into the store, with Poaquiza following.
As Pullutasi lies bleeding on the street alone, several people, including what look like teens pass him and stare.
According to the Queens District Attorney’s office, after the Valerios pushed the younger men out of the store one of the Valerios kicked Pullutasi, who then retalitated by kicking and punching both of the Valerios and tried to slam the door on their hands.
Valerio, who has a concealed carry permit, pulled a 9-mm. handgun from his rear waistband and attempted to strike Pullutasi with the weapon but missed and the gun went off, said the Queens District Attorney’s office Wednesday.
Medics took Pullutasi to Elmhurst Hospital, where he underwent surgery for internal bleeding and bullet fragments were removed from his body, according to a criminal complaint.
Cops initially charged the two accused crooks with robbery, assault and menacing but Queens DA Melinda Katz said Wednesday the pair was being charged with petty larceny.
Francisco Valerio was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Tuesday night and released without bail. Poaquiza was separately arraigned and also released on his own recognizance, while Pullutasi’s charges are still pending while he is in the hospital, said Katz.
Fernando Mateo, spokesman for the United Bodegas of America, asked for Katz to drop the charges against Valerio. The group has advocated for other shopkeepers who have recently gotten in trouble with the law and made headlines.
In July 2022, Jose Alba was arrested and then cleared in a fatal stabbing that was later deemed to be self-defense, after Austin Simon, 35, came behind the counter of a bodega and physically confronted Alba over what he said was a lack of respect for his girlfriend’s child.
On May 7, Natesh Natesh, a store clerk at a Queens bodega stabbed 21-year-old Dylan Marino to death in a confrontation over a stolen beer, cops said. The 21-year-old bodega worker was taken into custody and released that evening without charges.
“When we stand our ground and fight back we become the criminal in our own businesses,” Mateo said Wednesday. “Jose Alba, Netesh Netesh and now Francisco Valerio are all victims not criminals. Kevin Pullutasi and Edwin Paiquiza [sic] have robbed Francisco’s liquor store numerous times according to an employee of the liquor store.”
