A father visiting from Colombia and a young woman riding in the back of an Uber were struck by gunfire in Saturday’s early morning shooting in Times Square.
Three people were wounded in total, including the two innocent bystanders, when a shooter opened fire around 1:20 a.m. near 44th Street and Seventh Avenue, police officials said over the weekend.
Video obtained by NBC New York showed a paramedic and police officer treating 65-year-old Luis Eduardo Rodriguez Palencia after he took a bullet to his left leg. First responders put him on a stretcher and rushed him to a hospital nearby.
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News 4
First responders rush a 65-year-old tourist from Colombia to be treated following a shooting in Times Square.
“My dad yelled, ‘I’m hurt! I’m hurt!” Palencia’s son, Jhon Rodriguez, told NBC New York in Spanish. “Unfortunately they shot my dad. We’re all in shock.”
Palencia was with his family, visiting New York City for the first time an alleged fight broke out between the gunman and one of the other victims.
A motive remains unclear — but law enforcement sources said before shots were fired, more than a dozen people on Citi Bikes entered the Raising Canes.
“We were in Canes and about five boys came in, like all teenagers,” Agnes Rodriguez, a witness, said. “As we were waiting to get our food they all run out, fighting and bickering.”
An argument followed between a 17-year old gunman and one of the people in the large group.
Palencia and his family, including his son, head the argument outside, and then the shots.
“Our reaction was to throw ourselves under the car for cover. The kids pushed my mom, sister and friend,” Palencia’s son added.
The gunman’s bullets also struck an 18-year-old woman in the neck as she was riding in an Uber nearby, according to police. A 19-year-old man, who appeared to be the intended target, was shot in the foot.
“I heard three. We thought it was fake. We thought it was firecrackers,” another witness said.
Law enforcement sources say officers nearby ran toward the gunfire and caught the suspect who tried to escape. Police also allegedly recovered a gun in the area.
The alleged 17-year-old gunman was in custody; charges were still pending as of late Saturday.
New York City has seen a remarkable drop in gun violence this year. Through Aug. 3, it has seen its fewest shootings in decades, down 23% so far since last year.
New York bans firearms from certain so-called sensitive locations such as public transportation, hospitals, schools and Times Square, and requires that handgun owners prove “good moral character.”
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a challenge to the state’s gun laws in April.