A Polish immigrant died yesterday after being mysteriously shot when he stepped outside a hip Brooklyn restaurant to smoke a cigarette, police said.
Construction worker Tabaaka Lukaz, 21, had been socializing with two pals in the Tacu Tacu restaurant at 134 N. 6th St. in trendy Williamsburg when he went out onto the sidewalk at about 3:10 a.m. for a nicotine fix.
Also outside were at least five other men – one of whom had a gun, police said.
Shortly afterward, the gunman fired a shot, hitting Lukaz in the back.
Lukaz – who emigrated from his native Poland 17 months ago – died several hours later in Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, police said.
Cops last night said they were still investigating whether the shooting followed some kind of commotion outside the fashionable eatery, and if so, whether Lukaz was involved.
They said it was still unclear why Lukaz was shot, or whether the Ridgewood, Queens, resident was the target.
One witness who spoke to The Post, and who did not want his name used, said, “I saw a brawl out front . . . . The next thing I knew, I saw a guy on the ground.”
The shooter remains at large.
Some residents said they had long predicted serious trouble in the area, and that large crowds often gathered outside the restaurant.
“We knew it was just a matter of time, and there is never a cop on the block,” said one resident, who would not give her name.
“There’s a lot of . . . crowds hanging out at that restaurant. They stand outside and drink and smoke all night long,” she said.
Another area resident described the neighborhood as being safe and “relatively quite.”
“Normally, it’s peaceful,” the man said.