The scooter-riding madman accused of launching into a shooting rampage that left a man dead and three other people injured flashed a menacing grin at cameras Sunday after being charged with murder for the bloody weekend spree.
Thomas Abreu, 25, allegedly told detectives from the 107th Precinct in Queens that he was, in fact, driving around on a blue scooter — which became a death wagon once the suspected shooter pulled a 9mm ghost gun Saturday and began pumping rounds into pedestrians, law enforcement sources said.
He also allegedly told cops that he had a gun on him — and claimed that he was being pursued by the Russians and the Chinese, the sources said
But when the cops nudged him to talk about the shootings, the scooter-borne maniac clammed up and asked for a lawyer, according to the sources.
Outside the precinct Sunday afternoon, raindrops fell on Abreu’s white jumpsuit as two detectives walked him toward a waiting police cruiser.
The alleged madman wouldn’t answer questions, instead levelling a spine-tingling smile at the photographers gathered nearby.
Authorities charged Abreu, of Brooklyn, with one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder and three counts of criminal possession of a weapon for the bloody rampage.
Abreu allegedly shot four people in a span of 12 minutes in Brooklyn and Queens before he was arrested.
Three survived, but 86-year-old Homod Ali Saeidi — who was heading to his Queens mosque to pray — did not.
“My heart is broken, my family is all devastated,” Ahmed Alsaedi, Saeidi’s son, told The Post. “We can’t believe something like that would happen to an 86 year-old man. It’s terrible.”
Cops say Abreu employed a 9mm “ghost gun” equipped with an extended magazine during his campaign, during which he randomly targeted pedestrians walking the streets of Brooklyn and Queens on the humid July morning.
He was allegedly riding on an illegal scooter near Ashford Avenue and Arlington Avenue in East New York when he drove up behind a 21-year-old man and shot him in the shoulder, Assistant Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said.
About 15 minutes later, at 11:27 a.m., Abreu allegedly shot Saeidi as he walked on Jamaica Avenue in Queens, Kenny said. The elderly dad of six later died at Jamaica Hospital.
Eight minutes later, Abreu allegedly fired at a 44-year-old man at Hillside Avenue and 126th Street. The bullet caught the man in the cheek, and he was brought to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition, the cops said.
Abreu also allegedly took shots at a 40-year-old man loitering near the intersection of Jamaica Avenue and 131st Street, cops said. But he fled when he missed, and his would-be victim was unharmed.
Then, at about 11:37 a.m., he allegedly shot a 63-year-old Hispanic man in the shoulder at 134th Street and Jamaica Avenue. He was in stable condition.
Cops finally got their hands on Abreu at about 1:10 p.m. A source described him as “extremely emotionally disturbed,” while another said his reign of terror could have been much worse.
“This guy had a lot of ammunition on him,” the high-ranking source told The Post. “There were going to be other bodies dropped.”
Frightening videos obtained by The Post show the gunman motoring around, casually opening fire. Witnesses said the shooter was riding on the sidewalk and shooting randomly, causing panic.
The chaos left residents in a state of shock.
“People are scared, everybody is scared,” one resident told The Post. “This is a peaceful neighborhood. I don’t know what happened today.”