Surveillance Video Shows Mass Chaos, Terror as Gunfire Breaks Out at Long Island IHOP

Surveillance video from inside a Long Island IHOP shows utter chaos -- terrified customers scattering in a mad dash for exits and hiding under tables -- when gunfire broke out in the restaurant feet away from a toddler earlier this week.

Authorities have said the shooting at the IHOP on Portion Road in Lake Ronkonkoma appears to have been gang-related. The alleged shooter was taken into custody, another man needed immediate surgery for his gunshot wound.

Police had described the timeline of events -- but the surveillance video brings the bedlam into a jarring reality for anyone who sees it. It starts off innocuous --about a dozen or so diners are seen at various tables eating some food. 

Two young men walk up to a table on the left side of the camera view. One makes a quick flash of his hand, then one of the people at the table pulls out a gun and fires several times. The video has no audio, so no frenzied sound can be heard, but the reactions of the two people who walked up to the table and those of other customers in the restaurant make the fear palpable.

As soon as the gun fires, the two people who had approached the shooter's table dive to the ground for cover, landing in the middle of the IHOP floor, then scrambling to their feet and running into each other -- and a table -- before they make a break to the right and run out of view of the camera. At the same time, all the diners who had been seated, eating, get up at once and start running in different directions. Most seem to be confused, shocked and terrified.   

It appears their initial reaction is to run, but then they're not sure where to go, and end up cowering under tables as rapidly abandoned chairs lay upside down and sideways on the floor. Near the end of the footage, a woman rendered immobile by the shooting -- and by two people who fell on top of her -- grabs a toddler from a high chair. The child had been sitting feet away from the shooter.

The gunman, later identified as 19-year-old Deontrae Green, ran out of the restaurant as soon as he fired. He was taken into custody around the corner on charges of first-degree assault, first-degree criminal use of a firearm and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon; attorney information for Green wasn't immediately clear. The 20-year-old victim arrived at a hospital by private means and underwent surgery that afternoon; an update on his condition wasn't immediately available Thursday but authorities said he was likely to be OK.

Suffolk County police believe the shooting stemmed from an internal dispute between Bloods gang members. Police are also investigating two other shootings they say may be related to the IHOP shooting.