Updated at 9:15 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 18, 2018

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A man is recovering after being shot in the leg by robbery suspects in Astoria on Saturday night.

The three bodega bandits were caught on store surveillance cameras.

Witnesses said the trio began the invasion of the deli by pretending to be police officers.

As video shows, one of the suspects brandishes what looks like a badge and also flashes a gun, CBS2’s Dave Carlin reported.

Workers inside Bonoful Grocery on 36th Avenue included one man who was roughed up by one suspect, who wasted no time rifling through the register and stealing $2,000.

Watching it all from a deli counter in the back was employee Abdul Kuddas.

“One guy came first with the badge on,” Kuddas said through an interpreter. “Two were trying to get money. That’s when he realized and the other guy realized, OK, they are not cops. They’re just robbers, came in to rob us.”

Kuddas said he was very scared.

Mohammed Ahmed was also inside. He’s the grocery owner’s 30-year-old brother-in-law. He was there sending some money to his parents, who live in Bangladesh.

In additional surveillance video from a nearby laundromat, the men with the stolen cash are seen in the distance running across 36th Avenue. Also pictured is a lone figure, Ahmed, chasing after them.

As he gets closer to the men, in an area you can’t quite make out on the video, he gets shot in the leg and the robbers get away.

CBS2’s Carlin spoke to some of Ahmed’s relatives.

“He was helping to maybe catch them or something and that’s why they came back and shot him in the leg,” sister-in-law Shahna Bagum said.

“He didn’t think about his life,” relative Shibbir Ahmed added. “He was trying to do something good, but he was unlucky that he got shot.”

Mohammed Ahmed’s relatives said he remained inside the intensive care unit at Elmhurst Hospital on Sunday afternoon, awaiting surgery to remove the bullet from his leg.

Mohammed Ahmed and his wife moved to the area seven months ago. He works as a waiter at a Manhattan restaurant.

CBS2 talked to Faruk Ahmed, the grocery’s owner, who said he was glad he has so many store cameras to capture so many angles of the crime in progress.

He said he’s hoping for three arrests very soon.

“We need justice,” Faruk Ahmed said.

Police said the suspects got away driving northbound on 29th Street in a burgundy-colored minivan.

Anyone with information about the attack is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.