By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Cops opened fire on four armed men during a wild gunfight that erupted at a Queens house party Friday night, leaving a 16-year-old boy and three men wounded.
It was not immediately clear if the officers actually hit any of the victims, one of whom was in critical condition, police said.
The detectives, members of the Queens Violent Crime Squad were in plain clothes monitoring a house party near 219th St. and 130th Ave. in Springfield Gardens about 11:30 p.m. Friday when a group of men entered the intersection, pulled guns and began shooting at those attending the large gathering, NYPD Chief of Patrol Jeffrey Maddrey said.
“(The suspects) pulled out at least three firearms and began firing in the vicinity where the party was at,” Maddrey said at an early Saturday morning press conference. “There were 75 to 100 people at the party.
“They were firing toward the direction of the party,” Maddrey added. “They were basically firing into a crowd.”
Some attending the party had fired back at the intruders before the cops drew their weapons and engaged the suspects, cops said.
“Our detectives exchanged gunfire with the group of males and were able to apprehend three of them,” Maddrey said.
When the shooting stopped, a 16-year-old boy and two men, 18, and 24, were found lying wounded in the street, cops said. All three were rushed to Jamaica Hospital where the 18-year-old was in critical but stable condition. The two other men had minor injuries.
Three firearms were recovered at the scene, Maddrey said.
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As the wounded men were being cared for, a 17-year-old attending the party showed up at another area hospital with a minor gunshot wound, cops said.
None of the officers were injured.
It was not immediately clear what sparked the shooting. NYPD detectives were in the middle of a comprehensive ballistics investigation to try to determine if police wounded any of the injured.
The detectives, who were in an unmarked car, were keeping an eye on the house party “believing that there would be violence there between the local street crews,” Maddrey said Saturday.
“There were a lot of people out here when this occurred and anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers,” he said.
None of the four wounded have been criminally charged as the investigation continues.
The bloodbath took place as cops saw a 13% jump in shootings between July 2022 and July 2021. The city recorded 178 shooting incidents last month, up from 157 it counted in July 2021, cops said.
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