A night-time shooting on the iconic Coney Island boardwalk has left one victim dead and another four injured, while the gunman remains at large.
Gunfire broke out along the popular beach boardwalk in Brooklyn, New York City, just before midnight on Saturday night, according to the NYPD.
Police were called to reports of multiple people shot at Boardwalk and West 29th Street close to a playground and the Coney Island Houses public housing complex, a few blocks from the famous amusement park.
Officers arrived on the scene to find five victims suffering from gunshot wounds.
The victims were all rushed to hospital where one – a 42-year-old man who was shot in the back– succumbed to his injuries.
An NYPD spokesperson told The Independent that his identity is not being released pending proper family notification.
Police said that the four other victims – two men and two women – were all in stable condition in NYU Langone Hospital and are expected to survive.
The victims have not been publicly named but were described as: a 49-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to the right leg; a 34-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to the right foot; a 46-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the left leg; and an unidentified adult man with a gunshot wound to the left leg.
No arrests have been made with investigators now searching for a lone gunman believed to have carried out the attack.
The NYPD has not released a description of the shooter and no details have been given about the moments leading up to the attack.
It is currently unclear if the shooting was targeted or at random and police have not confirmed if the victims knew their attacker.
One witness described hearing gunshots ring out in quick succession which they initially mistook to be fireworks.
“It was like about I don’t know, I heard about seven shots, one after the other,” the bystander told ABC7.
“It was very quick. I was like, someone is having a celebration of some sorts probably. I didn’t see any fireworks though. So, I was like, it might be gunfire, but I wish it was the fireworks.”
The tragic incident at the popular New York hotspot – where beachgoers and ride enthusiasts flock throughout the summer – is the second shooting in as many months.
Back on 10 July, five people were wounded in another shooting on the boardwalk.
Police said that incident unfolded at around 2am on Sunday morning when one gunman allegedly pulled a firearm and shot two women and three men who had gathered for a large pop-up party close to the boardwalk’s iconic ormer Parachute Jump Tower.
No arrests have ever been made in that case.
