Stymied cops plead with public to help nail Hazmat Killer

Cops released a new image of the accused Hazmat Killer on Monday — but the grainy surveillance shot still wasn’t enough for detectives to get a lead on the bizarrely dressed suspect.

“Between the mask, the suit, the hoodie — the whole nine — we’re just having a hard time identifying him,” NYPD Assistant Chief Joseph Kenny acknowledged during a press conference on the Upper East Side, where the gunman shot dead a clerk at a bodega while dressed in a hazmat suit.

The suspect is wanted for three gunpoint robberies in the past 10 days, too — all of which he wore his strange get-up for, cops said.

He appears to have a hankering for a certain brand of cigarettes, police sources said.

“Newport seems to be his brand,” a source said, noting the suspect has swiped the cigs in at least two of his robberies.

Kenny, assistant chief of the Manhattan North Detectives squad, noted, “The attire in all four incidences is exactly the same.

“The method is exactly the same, and he’s wearing a Tyvek suit.”

The cop said the newly released surveillance image was captured at a 7-Eleven in Brooklyn after the suspect’s Feb. 25 heist.

Unfortunately, the image was “not quality enough for facial recognition,” Kenny said.

“That’s why we’re hoping somebody from the community calls the tip line and helps us out,” the assistant chief said.

Detectives have been scrambling — canvassing nearby businesses and pulling footage from all over the city for any possible additional surveillance video — to try to track down the killer, according to police officials.

Cops said the suspect fatally shot a 67-year-old man in the head as he worked at the Doana Gourmet Deli on the corner of East 81st Street and Third Avenue on Friday night. The gunman fled on a scooter.

The slaying may have been a robbery gone bad, according to Kenny.

“In this case, as of right now, it appears that he took a tray full of lighters. No money was taken out of the register. No cigarettes were removed,” the assistant chief said.

“The information that we are getting, [the victim] was being pistol-whipped,” Kenny said. “We do have an injury to his left hand which could indicate the fact that he put his hand [up] and tried to defend [himself], and the gun may have gone off then.

“Right now, there is no rhyme or reason,” to the crimes, the cop said. “We just know that he is utilizing his scooter, which means he gets around pretty freely.”

The NYPD is offering $10,000 for a tip that helps lead to the arrest of the gunman, police announced.