Construction Worker Shot in NYC Robbery Attempt: Police

Witness says she told the victim, "God gotcha just breathe, breathe, breathe"

A construction worker was shot multiple times in the chest during a robbery attempt in Brooklyn in broad daylight Monday over a gold chain and backpack, police said. 

The 22-year-old victim was at work in East New York on Belmont Avenue near Shepherd Avenue when the suspect approached him and tried to steal his chain at about 10:50 a.m., authorities said. 

The mugger pulled a gun during the robbery, and ended up shooting the construction worker multiple times, police said, in an attack that was caught on security video. The video from a nearby bodega showed the victim fighting back.

Witness Mirna Medina said she heard five shots and "saw the guys tussling."

"I thought they were playing around," she said.

The gunman ran down Belmont Avenue, Medina added.

Elicia Alcocks, who was working at a day care nearby, ran outside after she heard the shots and saw the worker bleeding on the ground and gasping for air.

As others called 911 she grabbed a neighbor's towel.

The operator told her apply pressure to the gunshot wound while they waited for an ambulance, she said. 

She said as he started to foam at the mouth she told him, "God gotcha just breathe, breathe, breathe."

The victim was rushed to Brookdale Hospital in critical condition, authorities said. 

The gunman fled in a car and is still at large, police said. 

"Shameful," Alcocks said of the attack.

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