Cops Fanatically Hunt for 4 Gunmen in NYC Shooting after They Shot Dead 3 and Left 9 Wounded Before Fleeing the Scene

Three people were killed and nine others injured early Sunday when as many as four shooters opened fire in a suspected gang-related attack at a Brooklyn hookah lounge just as it was closing, authorities said. However, police are yet to make any arrests as the gunmen remain at large.

This marked the city’s second mass shooting in recent weeks — following an incident late last month when a gunman entered a luxury Midtown high-rise, killed four innocent people, before turning the gun on himself. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that the victims were three men, ages 27, 35, and 19. However, authorities are yet to reveal the identities of the victims.

Crime in New York

“I can easily stand here and tell you that we have driven down crime, that we have removed over 2,000 illegal guns off our street,” Mayor Eric Adams said solemnly while addressing reporters about Sunday’s shooting and referencing the other recent mass attack.

“I can give you those numbers and those stats. But that does not comfort those who are victims of gun violence,” he said.

Officers rushed to reports of gunfire at Taste of the City Lounge, located at 903 Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights, shortly before 3:30 a.m.

The eight wounded were immediately transported to local hospitals in unspecified condition following the deadly shooting, which took place around 3:27 a.m.

The violence may have started from an argument between the 19-year-old and the 35-year-old, the latter believed to be linked to the Folk Nations gang, sources said.

Grainy surveillance footage from inside the lounge reportedly shows the two men drawing guns and shooting, followed by two more people opening fire, sending patrons running for cover.

The 27-year-old victim appeared to be an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire, according to sources. Tisch confirmed at the briefing that some of those hit were indeed innocent bystanders.

“What we know preliminarily is that there was a dispute inside the crowded club that led to the shooting. We believe that there were up to four shooters involved in this incident,” she said.

“At this time, no one is in custody, and the shooting preliminary appears to be gang-related.”

Chaos All Around

A 39-year-old man, who chose to remain anonymous, told reporters he saw one of the victims being gunned down. “He’s a regular, he wasn’t doing nothing. Nothing to do with it … He’s just outside the bathroom, hitting a hookah, dead,” the man told The New York Post.

A friend of the older victim said he glanced through the doorway and spotted his friend being given medical care.

“All I heard was what sounded like fireworks,” the witness, RoyJawn Philips, said Sunday. “I didn’t learn it was real shots until I went to check if my friend was ok and saw CPR being performed.

“When I saw the CPR, I knew the sound I heard wasn’t fireworks.”

Police said the nine people injured — six men and three women — were transported to nearby hospitals with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

The oldest among them was 61 years old. “We have the lowest number of shooting incidents and shooting victims seven months into the year we’ve seen on record in the city of New York,” Tisch said.

“Something like this is, of course, thank god, an anomaly, and it’s a terrible thing that’s happened this morning.”