NEW YORK (BN24) — Police are searching for multiple gunmen after three people were killed and nine others wounded in a mass shooting at a Brooklyn nightclub early Sunday, an attack that authorities believe was gang-related.
The shooting erupted at about 3:27 a.m. inside the crowded Taste of the City Lounge on Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. Officers arrived within minutes after receiving emergency calls but found a chaotic scene with victims shot across the venue.
“What we know preliminarily is that there was a dispute inside the crowded club that led to the shooting,” Tisch said at a news conference. “We believe there were up to four shooters involved in this incident.”
Police recovered at least 42 shell casings from 9 mm and .45-caliber weapons inside the lounge. A firearm was also recovered nearby, though investigators have not determined if it was used in the shooting. No arrests have been made.
The victims killed were men aged 19, 27 and 35. Friends identified one victim as Jamel Andre Childs, 35, who witnesses said was trying to break up a fight before being fatally shot. Among the 11 total victims, eight were men and three were women, ranging in age from 27 to 61. The nine survivors were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
Mayor Eric Adams visited the crime scene later Sunday, warning of possible retaliatory violence and urging joint efforts at the city, state and federal levels to reduce the flow of illegal firearms into New York. “Gun violence of this magnitude really scars a community and a city,” Adams said.
The Taste of the City Lounge issued a statement on social media saying it was “devastated” by the violence and pledged full cooperation with investigators. The venue, which serves Caribbean and American food along with hookah, DJs and a full bar, had previously been the site of another shooting in November 2024 that did not result in deaths.
The neighborhood, home to both Jewish and West Indian communities, has been undergoing rapid gentrification. Still, it has long struggled with the impact of gang violence, which residents say has left lasting scars.
The Brooklyn shooting comes as the United States continues to grapple with gun violence. The Gun Violence Archive reports that the nation has already recorded more than 270 mass shootings this year — an average of more than one a day.
