(NEW YORK) --- Two of the three people killed in a New York City nightclub shooting early Sunday have been identified as suspected gunmen who opened fire inside the establishment, injuring up to 11 other people, police officials said on Monday.
Two additional victims showed up at hospitals, one on Sunday evening and the other early Monday, to be treated for gunshot wounds, bringing the total number of people shot in the incident to 14, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at Monday's news conference.
New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch on Monday identified two of the men killed, 35-year-old Jamel Childs and 19-year-old Marvin St. Louis, as suspected gunmen who started the shooting after getting into a dispute inside the Taste of the City Lounge in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood. The third victim killed in the shooting was identified as 27-year-old Amadou Diallo, whom police do not believe was involved in the dispute.
Tisch said two other perpetrators who allegedly opened fire inside the lounge remain at large and that NYPD detectives are working to identify them.
Tisch said the shooting appears to be gang-related. She said Childs, who had eight prior arrests, is listed in the NYPD's criminal database as a member of Folk Nation, which she described as "a violent gang that terrorizes Brooklyn and is responsible for a half-dozen shootings so far this year."
The commissioner said three other shooting victims have also been identified by detectives as "gang members under the Folk Nation umbrella."
Tisch said St. Louis had "no relevant criminal history."
The shooting occurred around 3:27 a.m. Sunday inside the Taste of the City Lounge, a bar and restaurant which Tisch said was packed with patrons at the time of the shooting.
The commissioner said a total of 42 shell casings were recovered inside and outside of the lounge.
Surveillance video reviewed by detectives showed Childs and St. Louis briefly speaking to each other inside the lounge about 10 minutes before the shooting, Tisch said.
"Later, Mr. St. Louis approached Mr. Childs and opened fire. Mr. Childs returned fire and two other gunmen immediately joined," Tisch said. "We believe that there were four shooters in total."
The commissioner said officers arrived at the lounge on Franklin Avenue within minutes of the first 911 calls reporting the shooting and found a chaotic scene, with multiple victims ranging in age from 19 to 61 suffering from gunshot wounds inside the nightclub.
Tisch said two of the victims, Childs and Diallo, were taken to hospitals where they were pronounced dead. She said St. Louis died at the scene.
The surviving victims, including men and women caught in the crossfire, were taken to hospitals with what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries, Tisch said.
A firearm was recovered nearby in the vicinity of Bedford Avenue and Eastern Parkway, Tisch said, adding that police were investigating whether it was involved in the shooting.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams asked for the public's help in bringing the perpetrators to justice.
"If you were inside the club, if you heard individuals talking about this shooting, if you witnessed someone fleeing the location, every piece of information would allow us to put the puzzle together to solve this crime," Adams said in a statement Sunday.
The shooting occurred as the NYPD has recorded the lowest number of shootings on record for the first seven months of the year, Tisch said on Sunday. According to NYPD citywide crime statistics as of Aug. 10, the number of shooting victims had fallen nearly 22% this year compared to the same period last year, and the number of shooting incidents had declined 20.5% compared to the same period.
"Something like this is, of course, thank God, an anomaly and it's a terrible thing that happened this morning," Tisch said Sunday. "But we're going to investigate it and get to the bottom of what went down."
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