Exclusive | NYC shooting victim was defending girlfriend – who hugged him as he lay bleeding on the ground

The victim of a shooting inside a Queens convenience store was trying to defend his girlfriend from two creeps when one of them opened fire on him — leaving him clinging to life, according to a witness and surveillance video.

The distraught woman can be seen stooping over her boyfriend and hugging him as he lay bleeding on the ground inside One World Convenience in Richmond Hill Monday night, in the footage shown to The Post.

“She screamed,” the store manager, who declined to give his name, recalled in an interview Wednesday.

The 34-year-old victim, who has not been publicly identified, was blasted four times in the back and twice in the right arm during the shooting at the shop on Jamaica Avenue near 120th Street around 10:30 p.m., authorities said.

“It’s very sad,” the manager said, adding that in New York City, “You can’t come to grab a water with your girlfriend without getting shot.”

Video showed the suspected shooter and another man, who was lingering by the door, trying to chat up the victim’s gal pal — who had stepped into the store a short time after them to grab a bottle of water and candy.

“They were trying to talk her up, get her number,” said the manager. “They said they are from a different state.”

The woman left the store – avoiding her pursuers – but her beau, who had been waiting in a car outside, walked in a short time later and confronted them, according to the footage.

The enraged boyfriend exchanged words with the man standing by the door before the two squared up to fight, the video shows.

Then the shooter, dressed in all black and wearing a cap over his dreads, whipped out a gun from his waistband, according to the manager.

He held the weapon with both hands and pointed over the left shoulder of his accomplice, before unloading on the boyfriend who was standing with his back to the store’s door while facing both rivals.

“Right away he pulled out the gun and started shooting more than eight times,” the manager said.

Spots of blood formed on the victim’s clothes and he fell forward, hitting the floor, before turning over onto his back, the clip shows.

The suspects, who had initially arrived in a black car, made a quick getaway before the victim’s girlfriend ran back in the store and screamed as she went to hold her loved one.

“They ran out and we called 911,” the manager recalled.

The horrifying scene frightened the worker behind the counter, who “dropped to the floor,” the manager said.

The victim was rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where cops said that he remained in critical condition Wednesday.

The manager said both the victim and his girlfriend were “regular customers” at the store – where the front door was still shattered Wednesday.

“I hope he recovers fully. He is a good guy,” he said.

The store worker decried the city’s gun violence problem and the revolving door criminal justice system that often allows criminals to return to the streets.

“They catch someone with a gun, they arrest him and within 24 hours you are going to see him on the streets. That’s crazy,” the manager said.

“Do you think I’ll walk around New York City with my wife and four kids?” the man added. “I would have lost my mind.”

Shootings have risen so far this year in the confines of the 102nd Precinct, which covers the area where Monday’s violence occurred.

So far this year, 11 people have been shot in seven incidents within the precinct’s boundaries, compared to seven people hurt in five shootings during the same period in 2023, the latest NYPD statistics show.

“The mayor is focused on what’s gonna bring money to the city, but not on guns in the streets,” the manager said of Mayor Eric Adams.

“A lot of crimes happen on Jamaica Avenue with guns,” he added. “The city needs to focus on people losing their lives because of guns on the streets.”