One dead in Union Square diner shooting

A war of words turned deadly at downtown diner early this morning, leaving a violent thug with a lengthy rap sheet dead and sending scared patrons scattering into the streets.

The gunman and his entourage barged into the crowded Good Stuff Diner on 14th Street at 4:46 a.m. and opened fire on Corey Scott, 28, after beefing with him at a back booth.

Scott, of Brooklyn, was shot several times in the back and head, was pronounced dead at the scene. No arrests have been made.

Police are reviewing surveillance footage which captured the grisly shooting, sources said.

Cops found Scott, who had a history of robbery convictions, lying in a pool of blood.

The dead man was no stranger to violence. In 2007 he was nearly stabbed to death at Fusion on West 28th Street, after fighting with a patron at that club, sources said.

The Brooklyn man had also robbed and beat to death Gene Hop, a 57-year-old father of four in 2004, sources said. He was charged with manslaughter. Records reveal that he was currently on parole for a robbery conviction.

In his latest brush with violence, he exchanged heated words with his shooter before the bloodbath began, one worker said.

Then bullets went flying, causing the patrons gorging on post-party fare to drop their utensils and bolt the diner.

Cook Guillermo Lion, 24, didn’t hear the shots over the din in the kitchen, but instinctively followed the frantic swarm out onto the street.

"When I came out [of the kitchen] I saw a person slumped over a seat and he had a bullet hole in his head," said Lion, holding his index finger up to skull.

Workers were told the victim might have been packing heat as well.

"Thank god the other guy didn’t have time to take out his gun and shoot," the dayshift diner worker said. "He could have hit other people."

A bullet hole pierced the diner’s wall and half-eaten meals still remain on the tables.

After darting out of the diner, one patron ran into a neighboring convenience store.

"A woman comes rushing in asking for the phone to call 911," said Raj Gopal, 42, a worker at 7-Eleven.

The overnight worker asked the harried visitor what had happened.

"Somebody has been shot," he recalled her saying.

The incredulous Gopal walked out onto 14th Street near 6th Avenue.

"When I came out I saw all these people walking out of the diner in a rush," he recalled. "Some of the people were walking away or catching cabs."