A late-night gathering at a Harlem playground turned into a crime scene early Sunday when four people, including two teenage boys, were shot, police said.
Officers responded to reports of gunfire just after 1:18 a.m. at Brigadier General Charles Young Playground and found four wounded victims inside the park, according to the NYPD. All four were taken to a local hospital, where they were listed in stable condition.
The victims include a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old, both shot in the left foot, a 20-year-old man shot in the groin, and a 21-year-old man shot in the right leg, authorities told PIX11. The station reported that the shooting happened near West 153rd Street and Lenox Avenue and that police have not released any information about a suspect or a possible motive.
Detectives spent the early morning canvassing the area and reviewing footage as they tried to piece together what happened.
“Bad things happen all over. This is a good community,” local resident Wayne Davis told PIX11, summing up the mix of frustration and disbelief among neighbors. Regular parkgoers said the space is typically filled with youth sports and community programming, which made the burst of early-morning violence feel especially out of place.
Park Was Recently Upgraded
Brigadier General Charles Young Playground was the focus of a major $11 million renovation completed last year that added a multi-sport synthetic turf field and other upgrades, according to New York YIMBY. Community groups and city agencies have pushed evening sports and youth programming at the site as a way to keep the park busy and supervised.
Investigation Underway
The NYPD said detectives are interviewing witnesses and collecting video evidence as the investigation continues, and officials are urging anyone with information to contact police. As of Sunday morning, the department had not released further details about a suspect or a motive.
