Moment a NYC Times Square CD peddler opens fire during argument and accidentally hits a Marine, 21, who was in the city to attend a baptism
- The New York Police Department is asking for the public’s help in identifying a man who opened fire in Times Square Sunday evening
- The department has released surveillance footage of the incident, showing a man in a mostly red sweater shooting at someone off-screen before fleeing
- Police have said the shooting broke out amid a dispute between five or six CD vendors outside the Marriot Marquis
- A US Marine was struck by one of the bullets while walking through Times Square with his family
- Officers say the victim appears to be an innocent bystander
- He was rushed to a nearby hospital with non-life threatening injuries
New surveillance footage shows the moment a CD vendor opened fire in broad daylight outside of the city’s largest hotel in Times Square on Sunday, leaving a United States Marine injured.
The footage, released by the New York Police Department on Monday, shows a black man in a mostly red sweater walking backwards on a sidewalk at around 5.15pm.
As he opens fire, nearby pedestrians run for their lives. The gunman can then be seen fleeing the scene, eastbound, toward 6th Avenue.
Police say the shooting broke out when a group of five or six CD vendors were arguing under the Marriott Marquis sign on West 45th Street, and one pulled out a gun.
United States Marine Samuel Poulin, 21, was struck by a stray bullet in the attack and had to be rushed to the nearby Bellevue Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He is in stable condition, police report.
Poulin, who was visiting the city from Northville, upstate New York, to attend a baptism, was walking with his family at the time when he was hit in the back by the bullet.
New surveillance footage shows the moment a man opened fire in Times Square Sunday night
The New York Police Department is asking for the public’s help in identifying this man, caught on surveillance footage shooting at someone off-screen and fleeing from the scene
According to his social media posts, Poulin is a United States Marine
Live 5 News reports he had recently graduated from the Citadel, and was treated by paramedics on the scene.
‘He was standing up,’ said tourist Sydney Santana. ‘He was talking and then they put him on a stretcher and took him on.’
Tourists were left shocked and frightened by the random shooting.
A small group of people watched as crime scene tape was erected about the area with one police officer telling a tourist that it wasn’t ‘a show’, and that someone had been shot.
Shell casings were recovered on West 45th Street outside the Minskoff Theater, which remains closed because of COVID.
‘We were sitting at Juniors when a loud pop happened. And everybody ran for the hotel, they ran inside,’ said Santana who witnesses the shooting, to the New York Post.
‘It really is bad that [the shooting] happened in Times Square,’ Santana said.
Samuel Poulin, 21, was walking with his family at the time when he was struck by a bullet at around 5:15pm
A man was shot in New York’s Times Square in broad daylight, on Sunday afternoon, just outside the Marriott Hotel
Officers cordoned off the area immediately outside the hotel where the shooting took place
A small group of people watched as crime scene tape was erected about the area with one police officer telling a tourist that it wasn’t ‘a show’, and that someone had been shot
Crime scene techs can be seen working close to where Sunday evening’s shooting happened in Times Square
Law enforcement flooded the area outsider the Marriott which is normally thronging with tourist
A small group of interested passers-by gathered to watch what was happening
Sunday evening’s shooting is the second such incident in Times Square in little over a month and comes just as the city is welcoming tourists back to one of its most famous landmarks.
Three bystanders were struck by gunfire in May, including a four-year-old child.
The alleged gunman responsible for the May shooting was apprehended days later in Florida after fleeing the city.
The latest shooting also comes just over a week since a violent shooting on a sidewalk in the Bronx narrowly missed killing two young children.
As of June 20, 777 people have been shot throughout New York City in 680 shootings in 2021, according to department crime figures online.
That is an increase of 48 percent in the number of victims compared with the same time last year, in 53 percent more shootings which have skyrocketed since the pandemic gripped the country.
Statistics show shooting crimes have been up this year city-wide compared to last year
Crimes have been rising throughout New York City, according to the NYPD
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