the wagon: Nov 21, 2008

Friday, November 21, 2008

Brooklyn shopkeeper kills gunmen but takes bullet in attempted robbery

BY KERRY BURKE and LEO STANDORA
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Tuesday, November 18th 2008, 2:38 AM

A pistol-packing dad fought a gun duel with a trio of holdup men in his Brooklyn shop Monday night, killing two and sending their lookout running for his life, police said.

The shop owner, who sources identified as Youssouf Brame, took a slug in the stomach and underwent emergency surgery at Kings County Hospital, where he was in critical but stable condition.

A store employee who sources identified as Drummond Bignott, 20, was shot in the leg.

Brame, known to his customers as "Africa," recently became the father of twins.

Investigators said the violence erupted about 8:20 p.m. when two men in their 20s burst into Brame's variety store, known as Africa's on Nostrand Ave. in Crown Heights, pointed a handgun at him and demanded money.

But Brame, who either carried a gun or had one in the store for protection, drew down on the men, cops said.

Police were still piecing together what happened next, but there was a burst of gunfire, and when the smoke cleared, one bandit was dead, another ran from the store bleeding from a fatal chest wound and the third escaped.

Brame was down on the floor behind his register, and Bignott, bleeding badly, staggered outside and called his grandmother.

"He was crying. All he could tell me was [that] he got shot," said an anguished Grace McNeill. "They took him away before I got here and I don't know what happened to him."

Roberto Feliz, 18, was sitting outside his father's bodega near Brame's place when he "heard like four shots," he said.

"One guy was holding the door like a guard, and he just ran away. Then another guy comes out. He stumbled around the corner and fell down."

Police said this suspect, who later died, was headed for a getaway car on Lefferts Ave., just off Nostrand. He was later identified by his brother as Leon Harris, 25.

"He was a good guy," said Mark Harris, 31. "Leon caught up in a robbery? I don't believe it. No way."

Feliz said he was still trying to figure out what happened when Bignott limped out of the store, yelling for help. Feliz said he called 911.

Police last night said they had recovered at least one gun and were still hunting for the man who got away and talking to other possible witnesses.

kburke@nydailynews.com

Courtesy of the Daily News.