Gunman opens fire at July 4 barbecue in Brooklyn, wounding 8, including 4 children

At least eight people, including four children, were shot during a July 4 barbecue in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn on Saturday, according to police. As a family celebrated in the front courtyard of a high-rise apartment building near Surf Avenue, an unknown man dressed in all black and wearing a black ski mask approached the fence line along Surf Avenue and fired multiple rounds into the courtyard before fleeing on foot, New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters at a news conference Sunday morning. Police responding to the call at about 10:35 p.m. found eight people with gunshot wounds: four boys ages 6, 7, 12 and 14; two women, ages 21 and 25; and two men, ages 33 and 37, the NYPD said. The 21-year-old woman and the 33-year-old man were shot in the chest, the 6-year-old was shot in the abdomen, and the three older boys were shot in the leg or thigh, police said. The 21-year-old woman is in critical condition, while the seven other victims are stable, according to police. “There is no place for this kind of violence in our city. We will not tolerate it, and we will fight it with every single tool at our disposal,” New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said. “As we mourn alongside those whose loved ones have been hurt, let us also recommit ourselves to the work of building a city where every celebration is safe and every holiday is joyful.” Authorities have not released the names of the victims or confirmed a motive for the shooting, but Tisch said there was no indication of any argument or altercation at the barbecue before the shooting. She noted, however, that “a confirmed gang-related homicide” occurred last week on the same block, and authorities are “looking into whether there is a nexus between the two incidents.” A TEC-9-style firearm with an extended magazine was recovered at the scene, along with 10 discharged shell casings, Tisch said. No arrests have been made. Elsewhere in Brooklyn, an NYPD detective was shot just after 4 a.m. Sunday when police confronted an armed 18-year-old man in the Crown Heights neighborhood who approached their unmarked vehicle, Tisch said. The detective was struck in the back of his ballistic vest and was not seriously injured, Mamdani said. He had been working a 12-hour shift since Saturday afternoon, “protecting New Yorkers on the Fourth of July,” the mayor said. A second officer suffered contusions to the face and shoulder, according to the commissioner. The suspect was Tasered, disarmed and taken into custody, Mamdani said.