(NEW YORK) — A 21-year-old marine who was visiting Times Square in New York City is recovering in the hospital from a gunshot wound suffered after gunfire erupted between street vendors.
The incident occurred on Sunday evening near Broadway at the intersection of 7th Avenue and 46th Street when a small group of about six CD vendors got into an argument under the Marriott Marquis sign on W. 45th Street, police told ABC News’ New York City station WABC-TV.
It was then that one of them pulled a gun and fired a single shot which ended up striking 21-year-old Samuel Poulin who was standing just a few feet away near a Starbucks establishment, WABC said.
Poulin, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the shooting, was grazed in the back by the bullet and immediately taken to Bellevue Hospital to be treated.
Authorities told WABC that Poulin was the the only person injured in the shooting and that he was not the intended target.
The shooting set off panic among tourists and people who were in the area at the time.
“It was a loud pop. At first we thought it was a fire cracker,” visiting tourist and eyewitness Sydney Santana told WABC. “We did see about 10 people running towards the hotel. [The victim] was moving. It was on his back. He was standing up, he was talking and then they put him on the stretcher.”
A witness who heard the shot while across the street told WABC that Poulin appeared to be with family or friends when he was injured in the shooting.
It was only several weeks ago that a similar incident happened in the area when a similar shooting ended up wounding two women and a 4-year-old girl. A suspect in that case was later arrested in Florida.
The last shooting in the Times Square area was on June 5, 2021 on West 37th Street and 6th Avenue, according to WABC.
Said Santana: “There are so many people here and, of course, a lot of people visit from other places so I wish it didn’t happen at all, but it’s bad it happened in Times Square.”
No arrests have been made regarding the shooting and the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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