Shooting at Manhattan diner leaves one man dead as argument
between two groups gets violent

A wild fight at a busy Manhattan diner exploded in gunfire early Saturday, killing one man and sending dozens of customers scurrying to safety.

The Good Stuff Diner on W. 14th St. was packed with late-night patrons coming from clubs and bars when a confrontation erupted in a back booth, police and witnesses said.

An argument between two men suddenly turned violent - and one of them whipped out a handgun and opened fire.

"I heard boom, boom, boom, and then came out into the restaurant and saw everyone running and screaming," said Bruce Angel, who was working in the diner's kitchen when the gunshots rang out around 4:45 a.m.

"It was like a scary movie," Angel said. "Blood was all over (and) I ran back into the kitchen to protect myself."

Corey Scott, 28, was shot three times in the back and twice more in the back of the head, police said.

Scott - who was charged with beating his neighbor to death during a robbery in 2004 - died instantly, his bleeding body sprawled on the diner floor.

Raj Gobal was working at the 7-Eleven next door when the early morning calm was shattered by shots and shouts.

"A woman ran in screaming, 'I need the phone, someone's been shot!'" said Gobal, 42. "I saw people run out and there was panic outside."

"The diner is always busy, and there's a fight once a month, just drunk people coming from bars," said Gobal. "But nothing like this."

Surveillance video taken from inside the diner shows Scott and several friends walking into the restaurant and confronting another group sitting in the back, according to police sources.

One of those men stood up and Scott immediately got in his face, the sources said. Moments later, shots were fired and the group ran out of the diner.

Scott, who lived in Brooklyn, was arrested six years ago on a manslaughter charge for fatally pummeling a father of four - and then stealing the victim's wallet to offer witnesses money to keep quiet. Gene Hop, 57, a Cambodian immigrant, died a few days after Scott jumped him in an alley on May 30, 2004.

Officials confirmed Scott had a robbery conviction on his record and was on parole - but it was not immediately clear if it was connected to the 2004 incident.

Scott, who was known as "Young Classik" and frequently posted YouTube videos bragging about his wealth - was nearly murdered in 2007 just blocks from where he was shot early Saturday.

He was stabbed several times in the chest and bashed in the head with a glass bottle during a wild fracas at the Fusion 215 club on W. 28th St.

Scott's girlfriend identified the body inside Good Stuff Diner hours after the shooting. The dead man's Mercedes was parked near the restaurant.

As cops canvassed 14th St. and nearby 6th Ave. for additional video, curious onlookers gathered outside the police tape hung near the Good Stuff Diner.

The diner, long a neighborhood favorite but also a popular destination for revelers spilling out of the clubs from nearby Chelsea and the Meatpacking District, remained closed as detectives pieced together the deadly events that unfolded inside.

"It's shocking," said Abrim Muljan, 40, who lives nearby and was turned away when he tried to get food. "It's a very good diner. I come here every morning for breakfast."

The killing comes just three weeks after another murder rocked Manhattan's clubland. On Oct. 4, two men were executed as they sat in an SUV after hours of partying at the E. 19th St. hot spot Roam.

The men - Rashawn Washington, 26, and Terrance Serrano, 22 - were each witnesses to other murders but investigators do not believe that led to their deaths.

The nigger must have had a good lawyer to only get a few years for robbing and beating a guy to death.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/10/23/2010-10-23_shootout_at_manhattan_diner_leaves_one_man_dead_as_argument_between_two_groups_g.html