A man riding around New York City on a moped on Saturday morning began randomly shooting at people, businesses and cars, killing an 87-year-old man and wounding three others.
The suspect, who police said was a 25-year-old Hispanic man, was in custody. The shooting spree took place in Brooklyn and Queens and spanned several city blocks over 30-minutes, New York Police Department officials said at a press conference.
A motive was not yet known, but officials said the suspect didn’t appear to target anyone specific.
“It seems that his acts were random,” said Joseph Kenny, assistant chief of the Detective Bureau. “Video shows that he’s not targeting anybody, he’s not following anybody. As he’s driving on his scooter, he’s randomly shooting people.”
Timeline of what police say happened in NYC
Police provided an update on the shooting on Saturday evening, saying:
At about 11:10 a.m., a 21-year-old man was shot in Brooklyn, and police saw video footage of the suspect approaching the victim from behind and shooting him once in the shoulder, according to Kenny. The injured man was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive.
Seventeen minutes later, another man was struck multiple times in Queens. Witnesses said a man on a scooter fired at a nail salon. The victim, an 87-year-old man, was hit in the back and did not survive.
Shortly after, witnesses said a man on a scooter randomly fired at a group of people before fleeing, and nobody was struck.
At 11:35, another victim in Queens was shot. A 44-year-old man was shot once in the face with a bullet striking his cheek. He was in critical condition in a hospital.
At 11:35, a 63-year-old man was shot in the shoulder. He was in stable condition.
Police said 9mm shell casings were recovered at all the scenes, and the suspect had a 9mm semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine and additional rounds on him when he was arrested at about 1:10 p.m. The suspect has one prior arrest, Kenny said.
Edward A. Caban, Acting Commissioner of the NYPD, said the shooter used an illegal scooter that did not have a license plate.
Contributing: The Associated Press
