A Bronx bodega clerk was shot yesterday on his first day at work by an enraged customer in an argument over a cigarette, cops and the victim’s family said.
The trouble began at about 11 a.m. when a man entered the Taiz Deli & Grocery on Valentine Avenue and asked for a “loosey” — a single cigarette — for free, cops said.
“He wanted store credit,” said the victim’s cousin Naif Alknel.
“He [the clerk] told the man, ‘I don’t have a lot of money to give you credit.’ ”
The customer stormed out — but returned at around 4:30 p.m., cops said.
He approached the front door and aimed his gun inside, firing three shots.
“He shot my cousin and ran away,” Alknel, 34, said.
The victim, 20, whose name was not released, was struck in the hip. He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.
Alknel said his cousin had arrived from Yemen just a couple of days ago.
“This is the first time he came to the store,” Alknel told The Post.