Man is shot dead on Brooklyn playground

An argument in a Brooklyn playground escalated into gunfire Thursday night, leaving one man fatally shot and two others wounded.

A 21-year-old man was struck in the back during the fracas in the Bushwick Playground at Woodbine St. and Knickerbocker Ave about 6:30 p.m., police sources said. He was taken to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, where he died.

Another man, 24, was shot in the elbow, while a 20-year-old man was grazed in the forearm, sources said. Both went to Kings County Hospital, sources said.

“A whole bunch of people (were) running in every direction,” said one woman, who was walking with her children when she heard the shots. She asked not to be named for fear of retribution.

She said that the playground and the basketball courts were filled with people.

“The back, the front, everywhere you could think of, everybody. It’s a nice, hot summer day. There were a bunch of people here.”

Another man showed up after the shooting, basketball in hand, only to find a crime scene instead of a summer pickup game.

“Thank God I was late,” he said, he also declined to give his name.

Police shuffled several teenagers into NYPD vans after the shooting as they investigated Thursday night.