A CVS worker allegedly knifed to death a serial shoplifter during a fight inside the Midtown store early Thursday morning, cops and law enforcement sources said.

The fatal encounter began when Scotty Enoe, 46, stopped the homeless man, who was suspected of trying to steal Gatorade and a container of creamer, near the door of the drug store at Broadway and West 49th Street just before 12:30 a.m. Thursday, according to police and sources.

The alleged 50-year-old thief, who has more than a dozen previous shoplifting arrests, socked Enoe in the face and the worker pulled out a knife and allegedly stabbed the man in the torso, cops and sources said.

The homeless man was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Responding police were notified of a “robbery in progress,” and by the time they arrived, the stabbing had already occurred.

Sources said the serial thief was known to target drug stores in Upper Manhattan.

“That’s his MO, he targets CVS and Walgreens,” a police source said.

Enoe, of Brooklyn, was arrested at the scene and later charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon, according to the NYPD.

He didn’t make any statements to police and asked for a lawyer, sources said.

Cops have not yet collected footage of the fatal encounter, according to sources.

CVS did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but nearby store workers told The Post shoplifting is a constant problem on the block. The offenders are typically homeless or appear to be drugs, they said.

A security guard at nearby Duane Reade estimated he witnesses up to ten shoplifters a day.

“There’s a lot. They don’t care if I’m here,” guard Carlos Santos said. “They just come in and take stuff because they know we’re not allowed to do nothing.”

He additionally said shoplifters bother store employees because it puts them in danger and threatens their job.

“If they come and keep stealing and stealing and stealing the store is going to say it’s too much and it’s going to close down,” said Santos, who works for a security company that contracts with Duane Reade.

A store clerk who works next door to the CVS also said theft is also a common problem.

“Sometimes there are times where people want to be extra obnoxious and they want to do it anyways in front of our faces. So it’s like, what can we do? Go ahead and hit him? Stab him?” the clerk, who did not want to give his name, said.

“We can’t do anything really. That’s tough and then if you call the cops they come much later.”