Shooting At Brooklyn Lounge Leaves 1 Dead, 3 Others Hurt
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- One person was killed and three others were wounded in an early morning shooting at a lounge in the Prospect-Lefferts Gardens section of Brooklyn.
Shattered glass litters the sidewalk and overturned furniture can been seen inside Ali's Roti Shop and Buda Hookah Lounge at 589 Flatbush Ave. as members of the NYPD's Crime Scene Unit investigate.
Police said someone opened fire around 3 a.m. Friday inside the lounge. When officers arrived, they found a 27-year-old man shot in the head and torso, police said. He later died at the hospital.
The other victims include a 28-year-old man who was grazed in the head, a 25-year-old man who was shot in the right foot and a 25-year-old woman who was shot in the torso, police said. A fifth person was also hurt by broken glass, police said.
"I was in the back in the kitchen preparing food when all the ruckus started, when everybody started running, hookahs was falling, breaking," Ali, the owner of the lounge, told 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa.
Sean Johnson said he was working in the basement when the shots rang out.
"The only reason I knew something was going on was because people started to rush downstairs, everybody's looking for an exit," he said.
Johnson said when he went upstairs a friend of the man who was killed was standing over the victim saying "please don't die, please don't die," Papa reported.
Many neighbors like Al Bowen said they are not surprised the lounge turned into a crime scene.
"I knew something like this would happen and see, that's what it is now," he told CBS2's Andrea Grymes. "A lot of crowd, undesirable people, fighting -- something always be going on over there."
Another woman, who did not want to identified, agreed.
"I actually called 311 and told them something bad is going to happen," she said. "Fighting, people running in the street left and right."
Officials with 311 confirm 10 noise complaints logged against 589 Flatbush Ave. since May. They say 311 referred the complaints to the NYPD and police closed out all 10 of them the same day they were opened.
But Obrian John, who said he's been to the lounge before, does not believe it deserves a bad rap.
"It's good," he said.
Police have not yet released the name of the victim who was killed or any description of a suspect.
Councilman Matthieu Eugene stopped by the scene earlier Friday, he said the gun violence is just too much, not only in his district, but everywhere.
CBS2 has tried reaching out to the owner of the lounge, but hasn't heard back.