Three people were hurt in a shooting in Times Square overnight, New York City police say.
According to the NYPD, two teenagers and a 65-year-old man were shot on 44th Street near Seventh Avenue when a gunman opened fire early Saturday morning in the heart of Manhattan.
A 17-year-old suspect was taken into custody and is facing a number of charges, including attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment. The suspect’s identity has not been released because of his age.
Shots fired in Times Square during fight, witnesses say
Witnesses told CBS News New York a fight broke out inside the Raising Cane’s restaurant in Times Square on the corner of 44th and Seventh. It happened at around 1:20 a.m. and appeared to involve a group of about 15 teenagers who rolled up on Citi Bikes and entered the restaurant, they said.
One witness said some of the teenagers asked her friend for $2, but she told them she didn’t have any money.
“And then as we were waiting to get our food, they all run out and stuff, and they’re just, like, fighting,” witness Agnes Rodriguez said.
The witnesses said they heard three gunshots after the brawl spilled outside.
“We literally thought it was fake. We thought it was like firecrackers or … fireworks. We didn’t believe it,” one witness said.
Officers at a nearby post also heard the gunshots and responded.
There was a short pursuit and the suspect was caught a block away at 44th and Eighth.
2 bystanders injured in Times Square shooting
A 19-year-old man was shot in the foot, an 18-year-old woman from Maryland suffered a graze wound to the neck and a 65-year-old man from New Jersey was shot in the leg, according to police. They were all hospitalized in stable condition.
Police said the 19-year-old was the gunman’s target, but the other two victims were innocent bystanders.
Investigators said the shooting occurred after the suspect got into an argument with the older teen and that a gun was recovered from the scene.
Police said it was not immediately clear if the suspect and victims knew each other before the shooting.
Times Square is one of New York’s gun-free zones, created in 2022 under a sweeping state law that bans firearms in so-called sensitive locations, but street vendors say shootings continue to happen in the area.