A 43-year-old man has been killed and at least two others were wounded in a mass shooting near Penn Station Monday morning, according to the New York Police Department.
The attackers in the Penn Station shooting have not been captured as of 8 AM EDT, but witnesses are reporting that three men were seen fleeing the shooting near the intersection of 35th and 8th Avenue in a silver sedan. Police say an investigation is underway.
Of note, the shooting occurred at around 6:15 AM EDT Monday.
NYC emergency personnel took the wounded men to nearby Bellevue Hospital.
UPDATE: The Penn Station shooting apparently started in a nearby McDonald’s, according to the latest from the police. A number of people at the restaurant got into an argument, and the group was then approached by the suspected gunman, who argued briefly and left, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce.
As the victims left the restaurant, the gunman followed them into Penn Station at rush hour and fired at least four shots from the bottom of the stairs,
The intersection where the shooting occurred is just north of where the A, C and E subway lines come together at Penn Station. Law enforcement has closed off a number of streets surrounding the shooting, and at least two bus routes are also being detoured.
Victims of Penn Station shooting were clients at nearby methadone clinic
The Penn Station shooting happened outside a McDonalds restaurant near 35th St. and Eighth Ave. and the three victims were shot at point-blank range, according to local media reports.
Witnesses who attend a nearby methadone program at the West Midtown Medical Group said they knew the two victims. They claimed that both of the victims had come to the clinic for years.
NYPD could not confirm that the victims were from the methadone clinic (a location for drug addicts to receive treatment), but police investigators were interviewing employees and patients at the building, just half a block from where the shooting occurred.
UPDATE 2: “Dude just busts out a gun and, ‘Pow! Pow!’”, said Penn Station shooting witness Joe Sarcone, noting he was walking his wife to the West Midtown Medical methadone clinic when he saw the shooter draw his weapon and begin firing into the station. “I’m like, ‘What the hell? It’s too early for this.’”
Sarcone continued to say he was pretty sure he recognized the gunman as a well-known drug dealer whose turf includes the two McDonalds in the area of the shooting.
