crime scene
Reuters

Four people, including a five-year-old boy, were reportedly shot dead in an apartment building in Queens late on Monday, July 30. The incident came to light around 8.50 pm local time, when police officials responded to a call about a bleeding man and visited a first-floor apartment on 30th Drive at 23rd Street in Astoria.

An official of the New York Police Department (NYPD) said that two women and a man were also found in the apartment and the child was found in the middle of the living room, reported New York Daily News. Along with the bodies, the police also recovered a black semiautomatic pistol from the spot.

The officials are now trying to ascertain if it was a case of murder-suicide. "We don't lean either way, but that is something certainly we will look into," NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea told the daily. It is also not known if the four deceased were related. 

Dozens of NYPD officers were seen at the apartment and are trying to ascertain the cause of the deaths. Investigators are yet to name those killed or reveal the motive, but hinted that one of the deceased had been identified. However, the name is yet to be revealed.

The neighbours explained that they did not hear any argument in the apartment or even gunshots and realised something was wrong only after they saw police vehicles and ambulances on the street.

"I got off the bus and saw an ambulance right here on the corner and thought 'Oh someone's had a heart attack,'" William Fulton, 63, who lives nearby told the New York Times "But then, all of a sudden, shortly after nine, police cars and other ambulances are showing up like crazy."

The police are now also interrogating the person who made the 911 call and also going through records to check if they have received similar calls from the apartment or the area before, reported the Associated Press. 

"We don't want to leave any stone unturned," Shea added. "There are calls that we believe are going to be related to that building, but it's a little preliminary."

A Bloody Weekend 

The Queens incident came immediately after New York City witnessed a bloody time over the weekend. Several rounds of gunshots were heard in NYC over Saturday and Sunday and 15 people were shot in separate incidents over a period of seven hours. While one was killed, three others are said to be fighting for their lives.

The incidents

  1. A man in Bronx, late Saturday, was said to have shot six rounds on West 166th Street and Nelson Avenue. The bullets hit an 18-year-old on the shoulder and another 20-year-old in the eye and the abdomen.
  2. An 18-year-old man was also shot in Brooklyn.
  3. Later, another man was shot in the leg in Brooklyn.
  4. Minutes later at around 10:35 pm, a 15-year-old was shot in the ankle in Brooklyn.
  5. At 1:02 am, a 22-year-old was shot in the leg in Queens.
  6. Minutes later a 39-year-old man was shot four times in Astoria.
  7. Around 1.30 am, 21-year-old Rashawn Pope was shot dead in Harlem
  8. Other three people aged 25, 29, and 33 were shot near Thomas S. Boyland Street, reported the New York Post.
  9. A 21-year-old man and another woman were shot in Bronx when a bullet grazed them.
  10. At 4.22 am, two people were shot in the leg near 180th Street and Baisley Boulevard.