Four people died and three were wounded early Saturday in a shooting at a private social club in Brooklyn — a location that police called an illegal gambling site, Breitbart reports.
The shooting occurred just before 7 a.m. at Triple A Aces Private & Social Rental Place. NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea told reporters that at least 15 shots were fired.
Four men between the ages of 32 and 49 were found dead at the scene, and two more men and a woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the shooting. Two firearms were recovered at the club location, and Shea said he wouldn’t be surprised if more were recovered.
The shooting did not appear to be gang-related, Shea said. No motive was yet known for the violence.
Persons of interest
Chief of Patrol Rodney K. Harrison said that no complaints or reports of illegal activity have been reported at that building in the past, according to a local CBS affiliate, but cards and dice were found at the scene Saturday. The NYPD is said to be questioning persons of interest in the incident.
According to reports, the gunfight was sparked when one of the victims, Chester Goode, shot a handgun into the ceiling in what could have been a robbery attempt or an argument over a game.
Goode was then shot and killed, along with two of his friends and a security guard for the club. The three men who were gambling were reportedly losing money at the time of the shooting.
Police said they found $100 bills on the floor of the room where the shooting took place. Some who were in the club fled the scene when the shooting started.
Strict gun laws
New York has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. The death rate from firearms in New York state was 3.17 per 100,000 people in 2017.
In September, the city had its lowest number of shootings during the month since 1994 when a crime tracking program was put in place.
Still, Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted that gun violence was an “epidemic” and that it wouldn’t stop until they got guns off the streets permanently.
For his part, the building owner said he didn’t know anything about after-hours gambling and that he only rented the facility out for family and social functions. Police reported that the location was unlicensed.
