A shooting at a crowded New York City club early on Aug. 17 left three people dead and nine wounded, authorities said.
Investigators have said they believe that up to four shooters opened fire at Taste of the City Lounge in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, following a dispute just before 3:30 a.m. ET on Aug. 17, New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters.
“It’s a terrible shooting that occurred in the city of New York,” Tisch said at a press conference.
“Currently, we have identified 12 victims—ranging in age from 19 to 61—nine males and three females.”
Three men died in relation to the shooting—one aged 19 who was pronounced dead at the scene and two—aged 27 and 35—who succumbed to their injuries at the hospital, Tisch said.
Officers are investigating at least 42 shell casings found at the lounge, from multiple guns, and a firearm discovered on a nearby street, she said.
Tisch said the wounded in the shooting are being treated at hospitals for injuries that are not life-threatening. The victims’ names are being withheld pending family notifications.
She said the police would not speak about motivation for the incident until the investigation is complete, but she said law enforcement has reason to believe some of the victims were involved in the shooting. That information is preliminary and subject to change, she said.
“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,” Tisch said. “At this time, no one is in custody, and the shooting preliminarily appears to be gang-related.”
New York City is having a record low year for gun violence, the police commissioner noted.
“We have the lowest numbers of shooting incidents and shooting victims seven months into the year that 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 happened this morning, but we’re going to investigate and get to the bottom of what went down.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams asked anyone with information about the shooting to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
“We need your help,” Adams said at a press conference, adding that it’s New York City’s second mass shooting in a few weeks.
“If you were inside the club, if you heard individuals talking about this shooting, if you witnessed someone fleeing the location, every piece of information would allow us to put the puzzle together to solve this crime.”
Andre Mitchell-Mann, who serves as Adams’s first New York City gun violence prevention czar and co-chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, said the mayor’s team has “been responding ever since the call has been made.”
“Mass shootings require mass resources, and so we look to go into that area of Crown Heights and to be able to pour those resources within that area, and we’re looking forward to everybody else’s collaboration going forward,” he said.
