Four children were among eight people shot and wounded in Brooklyn’s Coney Island neighbourhood on Saturday night, as New York City marked the Fourth of July with fireworks and other events for the 250th anniversary of American independence.
Officers responded at around 10:37pm to reports of a shooting on the 2900 block of West 31st Street, the New York Police Department said, according to ABC News. All eight victims were taken to hospital by ambulance. Seven were in stable condition, while a 21-year-old woman was in critical condition after being shot in the chest, police said.
The four children hurt in the shooting were aged 14, 12, 7 and 6. The other victims were two men, aged 37 and 33, and a 25-year-old woman.
Police said they recovered a firearm at the scene, but no arrests had been made and no motive had been established as of Sunday morning. The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
The shooting happened during a nationwide day of celebration marking 250 years of American independence, with President Donald Trump holding a rally on the National Mall in Washington to mark the occasion. New York City, under a heat dome for the holiday weekend, had numerous fireworks displays and other events planned across the five boroughs.
