NEW YORK, June 14 (Our New York News) — The New York Police Department took three persons of interest into custody after a 17-year-old male was shot near 42nd Street and Broadway during overnight celebrations in Times Square following the Knicks’ NBA championship win, according to police accounts cited in multiple reports.
The department said officers responded at about 2:01 a.m. to a shooting near 42nd Street and Broadway, a central Times Square intersection. Police said the teenager was shot once in the left foot and was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. A firearm was recovered at the scene, according to the NYPD.
No criminal complaint, court docket, prosecutor statement, defense statement or named defendant was identified in the available source material reviewed by Times Media Service. That means the three people reported in custody should be described only as persons of interest unless police or court records later identify charges. No source material reviewed identified a shooter, a motive or the type of firearm recovered.
The shooting came during wider street disorder in Midtown Manhattan as crowds celebrated the Knicks’ title. The clearest official account available is the NYPD’s account of the shooting response, the teen’s injury, the hospital transport, the firearm recovery and the three people taken into custody. Other details about property damage and crowd behavior come from video reviewed by news organizations and from journalists who reported witnessing parts of the unrest.
Video circulating online appeared to show two people jumping onto the roof of an NYPD vehicle and smashing its windshield, according to Fox News Digital’s description of the footage. Other video appeared to show people climbing on and entering school buses near Times Square.
The Associated Press reported that rowdy fans were seen smashing windshields, climbing scaffolding, light poles and a statue, climbing into and atop school buses in Times Square and trying to hitch a ride on a moving fire truck. AP also reported that police said gunshots were reported around 2 a.m. near 42nd Street and Broadway.
Reuters reported, based on a Reuters video journalist’s firsthand observation, that hundreds of mostly young people swarmed a convoy of about 15 shuttle buses in Times Square. Reuters reported that some people climbed onto bus roofs, entered the buses and sat in drivers’ seats. The Reuters video journalist also reported seeing one yellow school bus in flames and at least three other shuttle buses with heavy damage. Reuters reported that the bus had been hired by city government to help transport soccer fans, but the available material did not include a city agency statement confirming the transport arrangement or the damage total.
CNN, citing reporting by Mark Morales and other CNN reporting, said officers moved in after a crowd began damaging a parked school bus and tearing off part of its hood. CNN also reported the bus was seen rocking back and forth. On Sixth Avenue around 2 a.m., CNN reported, multiple police cars were damaged and windshields were shattered, while bottles and coolers were thrown toward officers as more police moved in.
Police said multiple arrests were made during the unrest, according to AP, but a final total was not available in the source material reviewed. The available reports also left unresolved whether any of the people arrested in the wider disorder were the same people taken into custody as persons of interest in the shooting.
Early accounts contained one notable conflict: AP reported preliminary police reports indicating no injuries, while other police-attributed accounts said a 17-year-old had been shot in the foot and taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. The later and more specific NYPD-attributed account identified the teen’s injury, hospital destination and condition.
The documented record at this stage shows a police-confirmed shooting response in Times Square, a teenage victim hospitalized in stable condition, a recovered firearm and three persons of interest in custody. The record does not yet show filed charges, named suspects, a final arrest count, an official fire cause or a complete accounting of property damage.
