3 Grazed by Bullets in Downtown Brooklyn: Officials

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What to Know

  • Three people were shot in a bustling intersection of downtown Brooklyn in broad daylight Friday, police say[hhmc]

  • Two of them were innocent bystanders: a 31-year-old man walking with a co-worker, and a 27-year-old woman leaving a job interview[hhmc]

  • A third victim, a 28-year-old man, appears to have been the intended target after he got into an argument with a group of five people[hhmc]

A man walking with a co-worker and a woman just leaving a job interview were among three people shot in a bustling intersection in downtown Brooklyn Friday afternoon, police say.

The man and woman were innocent bystanders in a shooting that erupted from some sort of argument involving the third victim, a 28-year-old man shot in the arm, at the Fulton Mall, police said.

Police say it was before 2 p.m. when a group of about five people got into an argument with the 28-year-old man, and someone in the group took out a gun and fired. The group then ran away on Gallatin Street toward Livingston.

The innocent bystanders were a 31-year-old man shot in the left thigh, who was taken to Methodist Hospital, and a 27-year-old woman taken to Brooklyn Hospital with graze wounds to the left hand and right arm, police said.

All three victims, who are from different areas of Brooklyn, are expected to fully recover.

Witness James Rice was manning his sunglasses stand nearby, and quickly realized that what he first thought were firecrackers were actually bullets when he saw the victims scream and drop to the ground in front of the Gap Factory store.

"It's very crazy, this time of day, that someone would have the nerve to shoot people," he said.

Police say they've recovered three 9-millimeter shell casings from the scene, and are interviewing witnesses and collecting surveillance video.

"It's very rare, this is highly unusual," said NYPD Deputy Chief Michael Kemper. "We're in area of Brooklyn, it's broad daylight… it's beautful out, it's sunny, very active, as you can see, with thousands of people walking up and down the streets."

Kemper said the NYPD will probably be releasing video and stills at some point.

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NBC

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