A 72-year-old Harlem business owner turned Bernhard Goetz on four robbers yesterday, pulling a shotgun from beneath his desk and opening fire, killing two and wounding the others, cops said.

The four men barged into Kaplan Bros. Blue Flame Corp., a restaurant-supply company at 523W. 125th St., at 3 p.m.

Inside was the owner, Charles Augusto, Jr., of Irvington in Westchester County, and two employees whom the robbers tried to handcuff.

After Augusto made it clear that there was no money on the premises, the bandits turned their attention to his 33-year-old assistant, JB, and starting pistol-whipping him.

That prompted Augusto to pull the 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun and fire three times, cops said. The blasts struck all four men, two of them in the back.

“I was hoping I could have talked them out of it. I’m sorry they’re dead but they didn’t give me any other choice,” Augusto said.

One of the perps, James Morgan, 29, fell in the doorway and died outside the building, with a gun near his body. Raylin Footman, 21, who had prior arrests for robbery and weapons charges, collapsed across the street, and later died at St. Luke’s Hospital.

Footman’s brother said, “He is loved,” but added, “I can’t say anything until I find out what happened.”

The other two suspects, Bernard Witherspoon, 21, and Shamel McCloud, 21, were caught within blocks of the store. Cops followed a trail of blood that led to Witherspoon, and caught McCloud using witness descriptions. Both were taken to St. Luke’s to be treated and charges are pending against them.

Augusto said he told the perps, “No one even came in here today. Take your gun, put it in your pocket and go home.”

“I could see it in the guy’s eyes that he wanted to go home. I just had a feeling he wanted to forget about it. It’s a damn shame.”

There were no customers in the building at the time.

Witnesses described a wild scene as the defeated robbers came running out of the business pursued by one of Augusto’s angry employees.

“I heard two blasts,” said Vernon McKenzie, who rents an apartment in the building from Augusto. “I came down and saw one of the guys who works there standing over a man in the doorway, screaming ‘You’re dead! You’re dead!’

“[Augusto] has been robbed before, and I guess he was prepared,” McKenzie said. “Those dudes ran into some real tough stuff.”

In fact, Augusto said he bought his gun after his last robbery but hadn’t yet fired it.

“”Ihadn’t tried to shoot it in all that time. I didn’t even know if it would work. I never fired it all this time.”

Several witnesses said the employee dragged the robber out to the sidewalk, where he died.

“The man pulled him from inside the store,” said a woman who watched from her window across the street. “His face had blood all over it.”

The dead man remained on the sidewalk covered by a sheet for several hours — his right shoe lying next to his head .

Augusto and his employees were being questioned at the 26th Precinct station house eary today. It was unclear whether Augusto had a permit to carry the weapon. A Manhattan prosecutor was also at the station house, sources said.

Police spokesman Paul Browne said Augusto “is being treated as a witness and victim of an attempted armed robbery.”

Augusto told cops he got the shotgun about 30 years ago after being robbed, Browne said. Possession laws are tougher on handguns than shotguns.

Stefany Blyn, 56, who has lived above the business for 25 years, described Augusto — known as Gus — as “very laid back, very relaxed.”

“Gus has been robbed a few times over the years. There have been attempts made before — some successful,” she said. “He wasn’t afraid of the neighborhood.”

A man who said he knows both Augusto and the employee who was pistol whipped, said the store owner “is very old fashioned. He didn’t have a buzzer or security.”

The violence brought to mind Goetz’s shooting attack on a pack of subway muggers in 1984, a case that spawned a debate on crime and vigilantes.

Additional reporting by Jamie Schram, Larry Celona, Philip Messing, Austin Fenner and Beth Stebner

ikimulisa.livingston@nypost.com