"Accidents" Happen

WE UNDERSTAND HOW sometimes during the rush to get a late story into the papers, some of the details can get a little muddled. We've also written in the past about the importance of reading as many accounts of a story as possible to get a grasp of the whole picture.

In the case of last week's shooting of 18-year-old Manuel Chametla at an Astoria deli, however, reading several accounts, gathering as many facts as possible, had a strange effect: The "whole picture," so much as it could be surmised, pointed in a completely different direction than the conclusion presented by each of the individual stories.

Making things tricky right off the bat was the fact that no one could agree on the spelling of the victim's name or when the shooting took place-the Post says 11 a.m.; the Daily News, shortly before midnight. But ignoring that, here are the facts:

Retired cop John Malik, 60, was a regular customer at the deli.

He was licensed to carry a gun.

He stopped in the deli that night to redeem a $25 scratch-off card.

Chametla, who was working behind the counter, was shot in the chest and killed.

Malik called 911 immediately.

Malik insists it was unintentional-he was reaching for his pager, knocked the gun loose from his belt, and it fell to the ground. Some report it fired when it hit the floor, others when Malik reached to pick it up. In any case, Malik insists it was an accident, the NYPD agrees with him and no charges will be filed.

But there were no witnesses to the shooting itself. Two other employees working in the back saw Malik come in, then went to do something else. Then they heard the gunshot.

The Daily News quotes one of those clerks, Juan Garcia-Perez, as saying of Malik: "He used to joke to Manuel about shooting him. He used to point at him with his hand and finger. But he never took out his gun."

And the Post, paraphrasing another employee, Felipe Santi Villares Jr., reports that Chametla was trying to help Malik with the lotto card:

Malik joked to Chametla, "You'd better do it fast or I'll shoot you," Villares said.

"Oh, yeah, when?" retorted Chametla lightheartedly.

"Two minutes," the ex-cop replied jokingly.

Sure enough, roughly two minutes later, the gun went off, and a dying Chametla asked, "Why did he do it?"

We aren't saying that Malik shot the boy deliberately. Nor are we suggesting that it's another instance of the NYPD jumping in to protect their own. It may have happened just as Malik says it did. But doesn't anyone find those "shooting" jokes Malik was reportedly making a little?weird?

We also find it a little weird, in the rush to insist this was a tragic freak accident, that no one would even suggest the possibility of looking at the security videotapes, just to clear things up once and for all. Seems like it would be the thing to do in a case like this-especially if it was the accident everyone says.