New York City police said Sunday that three men were killed and nine people were wounded when a suspected gang-related shooting erupted inside a Brooklyn nightclub.
New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said shots rang out shortly before 3:30 a.m. Sunday at a lounge in Crown Heights that left a dozen victims with bullet wounds.
Officials said a 19-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene, while a 27- and 35-year-old man died from their injuries in a hospital a while later.
Commissioner Tisch said the remaining victims, which included six men and three women, were taken to area hospitals for treatment. They are all expected to survive.
“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,” Commissioner Tisch said Sunday. “The shooting preliminarily appears to be gang related.”
She said 42 shell casings from multiple guns, mainly from 9mm and 45-caliber firearms, were scattered around the scene.
A discarded gun was found near where the shooting took place, but police said they haven’t yet been able to link it to the club.
Ms. Tisch said no arrests have been made nor persons of interest identified in the incident.
“We need your help. If you were inside the club, if you heard individuals talking about this shooting, if you witness someone fleeing the location, every piece of information will allow us to put the puzzle together to solve this crime,” Mayor Eric Adams said.
Commissioner Tisch did not want to elaborate on the possible gang association of the shooting, but said 60% of the shootings in the city are gang-related. The commissioner said NYPD is keeping watch for possible retaliatory actions following Sunday morning’s violence.
She also said some innocent victims were almost certainly wounded when the gang members began trading gunfire with one another inside the club.
