The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on Thursday dropped murder charges against the Harlem fishmonger accused of stabbing a man to death during a brawl over stolen shrimp.

Junior Aquino Hernandez, 34, was instead arraigned only on a charge of first-degree assault over the Tuesday night melee at the Fish Express Fish Market that left 25-year-old Malik Burrell dead and his brother Robert “Bobby” Burrell, 29, injured.

“At the time we are not prepared to go forward with the charges related to the death of Malik pending a full investigation,” Assistant District Attorney Mireille Dee said in a bombshell announcement during the hearing Thursday night.

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Jay Weiner granted prosecutors’ request to free Hernandez on supervised release.

Hernandez, a married father of four, looked exhausted and relieved as he embraced relatives following the hearing.

Cops had initially charged Hernandez — who does not have a criminal record — with murder, assault, and weapons possession.

The fishmonger maintained he hadn’t meant to hurt anyone following his arrest Wednesday night.

“I’m sorry,” a glum-looking Hernandez told reporters outside the NYPD’s 30th precinct. “I didn’t mean to hurt them.”

Prosecutors say Robert Burrell walked into the store and ordered shrimp — but then tried to leave without paying after getting into an argument with a worker.

The employee followed him outside the store, and Burrell slugged the worker in the face before storming off, dropping the shrimp during the fight.

About four minutes later, he returned with his younger brother and went straight to the employee-only area of the store, behind the counter.

Malik Burrell then began assaulting the worker who had tussled with his older brother earlier, repeatedly punching him in the face and head, according to prosecutors.

Hernandez tried to separate the two — but meanwhile, Robert threw a chair at a third employee, a cook who was holding a knife, according to the DA’s office. The cook pushed the chair back in Robert’s direction and the two struggled over it.

When Hernandez wasn’t able to break up the fight, he went to get a kitchen knife and stabbed Malik — who was still punching the worker — twice in the torso, prosecutors said.

The struggle between all five continued down an aisle toward the exit of the store.

As Robert pulled his injured brother out the door, Hernandez allegedly stabbed him three times in the hand and abdomen, causing a collapsed lung that required emergency surgery.

“This entire incident took a matter of 35 seconds,” Dee said in Manhattan Criminal Court.

“We are continuing our investigation to determine whether the initial stabbing behind the counter was justified,” she added, referring to the fatal stabbing of Malik.

“We are, however, filing charges with regard to the incident at the door for the stabbing of Robert Burrell.”

Burrell, who remains hospitalized, was charged by cops with robbery, burglary and assault. He was awaiting arraignment on Thursday night.

“We understand the serious nature of this incident,” Dee said during Hernandez’s hearing. “We fully recognize that a young man lost his life and his brother is seriously injured.

Our goal is to do an exhaustive investigation.”

The case bears a chilling resemblance to the July 1 stabbing death of Austin Simon by 61-year-old bodega worker Jose Alba, who claimed he acted in self-defense when the victim came barging behind the counter and shoved him.

Alba was initially charged with murder but the case was eventually dropped — and he now plans to file a multi-million dollar lawsuit for wrongful prosecution.