Seven people were shot within four hours during an explosion of pre-Thanksgiving gun violence, police said Thursday.
The bullets started flying around 7:20 p.m. Wednesday when gunfire broke out along a popular downtown Brooklyn shopping strip near the corner of Fulton and Jay Sts., hitting a young man and woman, both 18, in the legs, officials said.
EMS rushed the pair to New York Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist, where both are expected to recover.
The gunman argued with the couple before pulling his weapon, witnesses told police.
Roughly two hours later, around 9:40 p.m., two men were shot on Ryer Ave. in the Fordham section of the Bronx. One victim, 23, was shot in the left foot. The other, 22, was hit in the right thigh.
Both were rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital with minor injuries. The gunman ran off. The shooting, officials said, happened near a basketball court on Ryer Ave. near E. 184th St.
The gunplay continued in Queens, where a 24-year-old man narrowly escaped death after a gunman fired at his head during a botched robbery in Astoria.
The victim was on 30th Drive near Vernon Blvd. around 11:15 p.m. when two masked men stormed up to him, brandished a gun and demanded his property.
During a scuffle, the suspect with the pistol pulled the trigger, grazing his victim’s head.
Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
A 24-year-old man narrowly escaped death after a gunman fired at his head during a botched robbery in Astoria. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
The two crooks jumped into a waiting black Jeep Cherokee, which then sped off down Vernon Blvd.
The victim took himself to Mount Sinai-Queens hospital for treatment.
Three minutes later, back in the Bronx, a man and a woman were shot at the Yaya Deli and Grocery, on Melrose Ave. near E. 161st St. in Melrose, cops said.
The man, 22, was shot in the right shoulder and the woman, 25, was shot in the chest, cops said. Both were taken to Lincoln Hospital, where they’re expected to survive.
A motive behind the shooting was not immediately disclosed.
Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
Two people were shot at a deli on Melrose Ave. near E. 161st St. in the Bronx on Wednesday night. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
The Yaya Deli was the scene of a bizarre robbery on March 3, 2023, when a masked man in a white Tyvek hazmat suit held up a worker — two hours after the same suspect shot and killed deli clerk Sueng Chul Choi on the Upper East Side, cops said.
Cops on Thursday were scouring for surveillance footage of the four shootings in the hopes of identifying the gunmen.
No arrests have been made in any of the shootings.
Wednesday’s bloodshed was a major uptick in violence from the same day last year, which saw only two shootings with a total of two victims across the city, cops said.
As of Wednesday night, New York City had seen a 23% drop in shootings in 2025, down from 837 at this time last year to 644. The drop in shootings also saw a reduction of victims, down from 1,019 at this point last year to 804, police said.
Anyone with information regarding Wednesday’s four shootings is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
