Cops hunt suspect in Harlem smokehouse murder: NYPD

Police want to talk to a man seen near the scene of a smokehouse in Harlem where the victim was fatally shot in the neck last week, police said Saturday.

On Friday, investigators released security footage of a bearded man wanted for questioning about the February 11 shooting at Level Up Exotics, a smokehouse labeled “Super Mario Bros.” themed canopy on W. 125th Street near Fifth Avenue.

The victim, 42-year-old Alfred Johnson, was shot in the neck and chest at around 10 p.m. in a store. He ran to the nearest Shake Shack restaurant across the street, where he passed out.

An ambulance took Johnson to a Harlem hospital but failed to save him.

“It’s not surprising in this area,” a dollar store worker a block away, who identified himself as Billy, told the Daily News. “Such things happened. It happens almost every day.”

The police made no arrests. The motive for the murder was not immediately disclosed.

The bloodshed followed a string of firefights across the city for a frightening 15 hours, in which 14 people were injured, three of whom died. Five people were injured in the Bronx, five in Brooklyn and four in Queens in eight separate incidents between 2:30 pm on February 10 and 5 am the next day.

Johnson lived in Washington Heights, about two miles from where he was shot.

Anyone with information about a wanted person is asked to call the NYPD Crime Squad at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be confidential.