Witness describes shooting outside Valley Stream restaurant

Orlando Ortiz drew a silver revolver from his waistband and shot into a car that fellow restaurant patron Richard Baccus was in after the two argued, the Valley Stream eatery's manager testified Tuesday.

"He went to Richie's car and that's when I heard the three shots," Elvis Hernandez, 33, the manager of Ay! Caramba, told jurors at Ortiz's murder trial in Mineola.

Authorities have charged that Ortiz, 32, of Valley Stream, shot nine bullets from a .22-caliber gun into Baccus' head Dec. 23 after the neighborhood acquaintances got into an argument that spilled outside.

Baccus, 50, a husband and father of two daughters, ran a car-painting business from his nearby home in Rosedale, Queens, and died inside a black BMW that had belonged to a client, according to family.

Hernandez, while testifying through a Spanish-language interpreter, said he was in a doorway leading to the parking lot of the West Merrick Road restaurant when gunfire erupted. He said he approached the BMW after Ortiz put the gun back in his waistband and left.

"I went and I saw Richie and he had blood on his face," Hernandez testified, calling Baccus a good friend and customer who brought a Christmas tree to the restaurant that day.

Baccus had a bounty hunter badge with him that night -- one prosecutors said was fake -- and argued with Ortiz about it, according to prior trial testimony.

The defense has told jurors Baccus was drunk and trying to fight Ortiz because Ortiz said the credential was phony. Defense attorney Stephen Drummond also has questioned why police didn't note that Baccus was holding a small flashlight when found dead.

Hernandez told Assistant District Attorney Brian Lee Tuesday he didn't see anything in Baccus' hand when Baccus was in the car.

But Hernandez later told Drummond he couldn't see Baccus' hand and didn't know if Baccus had something in his hands at the time of the shooting.

Hernandez also testified he watched restaurant surveillance video of that night's events with police but couldn't make out the shooter's face on that video -- which jurors also saw. But he said he knew the shooter was Ortiz because he saw it happen with his own eyes.