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Wild Gunfire Involving Police Leaves Two Dead in the East Village Wild Gunfire Involving Police Leaves Two Dead in the East Village
(about 7 hours later)
Two men were killed early Thursday morning after a shooting involving police officers broke out near Tompkins Square Park in the East Village just as the neighborhood’s bustling bar scene was winding down, the police said. It started as a verbal argument inside a hookah bar in the East Village, early Thursday morning, just as the neighborhood’s bustling bar scene was winding down.
One man shot and killed someone he was arguing with near the southwest corner of the park, the police said. That gunman was in turn shot and killed by officers who had responded to the gunfire, said Terence A. Monahan, the chief of department. Moments later gunfire rang out.
The names of the men have not been released by officials. In the end, two men lay dead, one of whom was shot by the police, officials and a witness said. The men were both armed with handguns, officials said.
The mayhem started around 3:30 a.m. when officers patrolling the area heard gunfire, Chief Monahan said. It was a deadly burst of violence in a Manhattan neighborhood that had transformed in recent years into one of New York’s most popular night life destinations.
The officers rushed to Avenue A and East 7th Street, where they saw one man shooting at another, Chief Monahan said. The two men had been involved in a dispute at a nearby hookah bar, he said. The shooting took place around 3:30 a.m., when bars around the city were emptying out and preparing to close, the police said.
The officers yelled at the suspect to get on the ground and shot him when he did not follow their directions, the chief said at a news conference on Thursday. “He refused. He kept on walking,” Chief Monahan said. The scene was captured by a body-camera one of the officers was wearing. Samir El Mestassi, who owns Hayaty Hookah Bar, said the fight began inside his place, on Avenue A near East 7th Street, as a verbal argument — “there were no fists.”
Police fired three shots, Chief Monahan said. “We had two guys having an argument,” Mr. El Mestassi said, so his security detail kicked them out of the bar. He followed the men outside, one of whom he recognized as a regular customer. That man ran off and returned promptly, he said.
The second man was not shot by the officers, but appeared to have been hit by the first man, the chief said. “He followed the other guy and he shot him,” Mr. El Mestassi said, adding that the other man was struck at close range and then collapsed. “The other guy was running. He must have been scared.”
The man the police shot was on parole for a prior shooting for which he had served eight years in prison, Chief Monahan said. Two small, five-shot, 22-caliber handguns were recovered from the dead men, he said. Mr. El Mestassi said he was surprised that what had started as a verbal dispute among customers ended up as a shootout in the street.
“It must have been a baby gun, because I did not see it in his person until he shot it,” Mr. El Mestassi said. “I would have noticed it.”
After hearing gunfire, two police officers on patrol inside Tompkins Square Park rushed over to the scene and witnessed one man shooting another, said Terence A. Monahan, the chief of department. He said the officers ordered the shooter to get on the ground, but that the man did not follow their orders.
“He refused,” Chief Monahan said at a news conference Thursday morning. “He kept on walking.”
The man who was shot first was Richard Reid, 41, according to a police official. The man who was shot by the officers was Earl Facey, 37.
Mr. El Mestassi said the police asked Mr. Facey to stop “several times. The guy pretended like it didn’t happen. He just kept on walking.”
“Maybe he thought if he turned his back on them that they wouldn’t shoot him,” Mr. El Mestassi added.
Mr. El Mestassi said Mr. Facey had walked away, nonchalantly, with his hands by his side. That’s when Mr. El Mestassi heard at least two gunshots coming from the officers.
The police fired three shots, Chief Monahan said, which appeared to hit Mr. Facey.
Mr. Facey was on parole for a prior shooting for which he had served eight years in prison, the chief said. Two small, five-shot, 22-caliber handguns were recovered from the dead men, he said. Both men had been arrested numerous times by the police for violent crimes, according to a police official.
Mr. El Mestassi said the shooting incident echoed a bygone era when violent attacks and shootings were much more common in the area. There were only three recorded murders in the neighborhood last year, according to police statistics.
“Back in the day, Avenue B, Avenue A, it was chaos,” he said. “It was a lot worse.”
But increased police presence over the years, he said, “cleaned up the neighborhood. They made it nice.”
The Hayaty, its black facade adorned with a simple black and white hookah sign, seemed to be stuck in a changing neighborhood. The lounge is sandwiched between a laundromat and a commonplace Thai restaurant but at the same time, sits across a modern blink gym and a stylish exposed brick residential building.
In 2015, another shooting took place outside the establishment, according to a report in The Villager newspaper. No victims were found, but the police recovered six .380-caliber shell casings outside Hayaty, according to the report.
Mr. El Mestassi said he arrived in the neighborhood when he was a young man, as an immigrant from Morocco. He said he spent 13 years climbing the ranks of the restaurant world from the ground up, as a busboy, waiter, chef and other roles. Finally, he borrowed about $500,000 from family members to start his own business, he said. He did, opening Hayaty, which means “My Life” in Arabic, in 2013, he said.
“Finally my dream had come true,” he said. “And now this. I don’t want to go back to those bad days.”
Kitty Bennett contributed research.