“Why did you shoot me?”

That's what the man who was fatally shot in the chest by Jersey City police said yesterday afternoon to officers as he laid bleeding on the ground in a yard on Ege Avenue, says a woman who heard the exchange from her window nearby.

The 20-year-old man, who was shot in a side yard next to 105 Ege Ave., died in emergency surgery at the Jersey City Medical Center. The man’s identity, as well as details surrounding the shooting, have not been released by authorities.

The woman, Yvette, who did not want her last name published, said police were chasing the man, who had run into a shed in the yard. He was lying just outside the door of the shed after the gunshots, she said.

“It happened really quickly,” said Yvette. “I heard two gunshots, they sounded like firecrackers. Then I heard a man say, ‘Why did you shoot me?’”

Yvette then looked out her window and says she heard the police respond, “You shouldn’t have been wrestling with us.”

Yvette says the police then picked up the man and moved him a few feet into the courtyard area next to the house. She says they waited with the bleeding man until an ambulance arrived 5 minutes later.

Police then locked down the surrounding area for at least three hours and began searching the yard, Yvette recalled. She said the police told her they were looking for a gun.

The 20-year-old was rushed to the Jersey City Medical Center, where a trauma team was awaiting his arrival. The man went into emergency surgery shortly after 5:30 p.m.