Gunfire tore through Astoria's busiest commercial strip early Wednesday, leaving two men wounded near 28-36 Steinway Street and sending police searching for multiple suspects dressed in dark clothing and ski masks. The shooting happened around 1:34 a.m., and both victims made their way to a local hospital by private means before officers arrived on scene.
According to PIX11, a 19-year-old man was shot in the right arm and left leg, while a 21-year-old man was shot in the right leg. Police say both victims are in stable condition, though the investigation into how they ended up at the hospital before officers arrived remains unresolved. The NYPD has not said whether the men were specifically targeted or whether the masked suspects knew them.
Police are still looking for the men responsible, described only as multiple individuals in dark clothing and ski masks who fled the scene. No arrests had been announced as of Wednesday morning, and the investigation into the shooting is ongoing, per the same account.
A Commercial Corridor With a Violent Past
The shooting unfolded within the Steinway Astoria Partnership Business Improvement District, a stretch created in 1991 that supports more than 300 retail and commercial businesses spanning Steinway Street from 28th Avenue to 35th Avenue, according to the Steinway Astoria Partnership. Property records describe 28-36 Steinway Street itself as a one-story commercial building dating to 1927 that has historically housed retail tenants and bank branches, per StreetEasy.
It is not the first time gunfire has erupted along this corridor in the early morning hours. In December 2024, police responded to a shooting near Steinway Street and 20th Avenue in which a 24-year-old man suffered gunshot wounds to both legs and a shoulder around 4:40 a.m., with officers simultaneously investigating a nearby hit-and-run that may have been linked to the fleeing gunman, according to the Queens Gazette. In April 2023, two young men aged 21 and 22 were shot and killed during a late-night incident near Steinway Street and Astoria Boulevard, an area known for its concentration of nightlife venues, with three suspects fleeing the scene, as reported by CBS New York.
The Backdrop of Historically Low Shootings
The Wednesday shooting comes even as gun violence has been trending sharply downward across the city and the neighborhood. New York City recorded 381 shooting incidents across the first seven months of 2026, the lowest total for that period in recorded city history and a drop from 412 over the same span in 2025, according to Police1. By midyear, the city had logged 318 total shooting incidents, a 3.3% decline from the previous midyear record low set in 2025, with homicides also falling 9.8% to 119, per Vital City.
The trend has held locally as well. In the first two months of 2026, overall major crime in the NYPD's 114th Precinct, which covers Astoria along with Long Island City, Woodside, and Jackson Heights, dropped more than 9% compared to the same period in 2025, with felony assaults falling 35%, according to Patch. The precinct's station house sits at 34-16 Astoria Boulevard South and patrols roughly six square miles serving about 221,000 residents.
Response Gaps Still Under Scrutiny
The shooting also lands amid ongoing scrutiny of emergency response protocols across Queens. Hoodline reported in March that non-police mental health crisis teams still face limited late-night coverage during 911 calls, an issue flagged in oversight reviews tracking citywide dispatch gaps during high-priority incidents. Wednesday's shooting adds another data point to that broader conversation, even as the immediate case remains focused on identifying the masked suspects.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visit crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, use the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or text 274637 and enter TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers can reach Crime Stoppers at 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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