Times Sq. shoot
TKTS booth hit, no one hurt in new scare
Times Square’s famous Broadway TKTS booth was struck by a stray bullet early Tuesday, in the latest shooting incident to rock the Crossroads of the World.
Witnesses heard at least four shots fired at the corner of W. 48th St. and Broadway about 4 a.m., police said.
By the time cops arrived, the gunman had run off. No one was struck by the spray of bullets.
One slug struck a window of the TKTS booth at W. 47th St. and Broadway, causing it to crack in a spiderweb pattern.
“We’re grateful no one was hurt. Property can be replaced, people cannot,” Times Square Alliance President Tom Harris said Tuesday. “We have been in touch with the city administration and appreciate their unwavering commitment to restore a sense of security to the area.”
The booth draws throngs of tourists during the day seeking discounted same-day tickets to Broadway shows. It has been closed during the COVID pandemic, but is expected to reopen in September, when most Broadway shows plan to return.
Detectives believe the shots may have been fired during an
early-morning fight outside a nearby Seventh Ave. strip club, law enforcement sources said.
The shooting occurred just hours before NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea predicted the city would finish the month with fewer shootings than it did last August.
“We’re shooting to be down in this type of violence . . . but we have a lot of work to do and we still need help,” Shea said Tuesday on NY1. “This is the No. 1 issue that New Yorkers are concerned about.”
This is at least the fourth time in recent months shots have been fired in the Times Square area.
On July 14, rapper Elijah Quamina, 20, of Brooklyn, allegedly sprayed several bullets at a motorcyclist during a road rage attack at Seventh Ave. and W. 41st St., but no one was hit. He was arrested a day later.
That shooting sparked a brief war of words between city officials and Harris, but the Times Square Alliance president and NYPD Chief of Department Rodney Harrison met at the TKTS booth Tuesday.
“The New York City Police Department is doing everything they can to solve this crime and to continue to help address public safety concerns in Times
Square and throughout Midtown,” Harris said Tuesday.
Earlier shootings include one on May 8 at W. 45th St. and Broadway in which 4-year-old Skye Martinez and two adults were hit by stray bullets in an incident cops said was sparked by a street vendor turf war. The gunman, Farrakhan Muhammad, 31, fled the city after the shooting and was arrested a few days later in Florida.
The shootings continued June 27 when a 16-year-old break-dancer aimed his gun at a rival. A bullet ricocheted off the ground and hit Marine Samuel Poulin, 21, in the back as he and his wife and family walked by. The teen surrendered to authorities last week.
Shea told NY1 on Tuesday that many of the guns being used in New York come from a handful of Southern states with more relaxed gun laws, a route famously known as the Iron Pipeline.
“We are also seeing [guns] coming from areas a little closer to home that would surprise many people,” Shea said.
“But the No. 1 issue we’re facing is criminals right here in New York City that are carrying guns and not facing serious consequences.”