Man slain at Chinese takeout

The owner of the Lucky Star Chinese takeout in Southwest Philadelphia was about to close about 1 a.m. yesterday when one last customer came in to order fried chicken wings.

Two other men followed him into the takeout on Elmwood Avenue near 67th Street. As the owner, a 40-year-old immigrant from China's Fujian province, turned to start cooking, he heard two gunshots.

The customer was lying on the floor with at least one gunshot wound in his back, said the owner, who refused to give his name.

"He was screaming," said the owner's wife.

The owner pushed the panic button on his security system, which alerted police.

"Then the policeman came," the owner's wife said. "The man screamed to the policeman and held the policeman's pant leg. The policeman asked him if he was shot by a gun. The policeman turned his body and found a lot of blood on his back."

The 25-year-old victim, whose name was not released, was taken to the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was pronounced dead shortly after 2 a.m.

He became the city's 197th homicide victim this year.

The shooting likely was recorded on the takeout's video surveillance system. The police took the recording as evidence.

The blood was wiped from the floor, and the takeout was back in business yesterday afternoon.

"I still feel safe," the owner said. "There are always some bad guys."