Gunman arrested in NYC’s Hell’s Kitchen after brave bystanders tackle him
An unhinged man opened fire near a Hell’s Kitchen convenience store on Sunday morning – prompting two men to heroically tackle him to the ground and hold him until cops arrived, witnesses and police said.
The suspect, who was only identified publicly as a 27-year-old man, was arrested just before 7 a.m. following an altercation near the intersection of Ninth Avenue and West. 51st Street, police said.
Video from a convenience store on the block shows the suspected gunman just minutes before the incident, wearing a green Dennis Rodman basketball jersey, speaking with a group of shoppers and flashing them with a wide grin.
A store employee told The Post the man was offering to buy things for the group of strangers, but when they ignored him, he started cursing at them.
The man left the shop, and the shots rang out moments later, the worker said.
“I heard the shots, so I looked out the window and it looked like two guys were trying to ‘control’ the other guy,” a witness, who identified himself as Johnathan, told The Post.
“As they turned him over, it was apparent that he had a gun.”
Police arrived shortly afterward, as one of the men was holding the suspect to the ground, and arrested him, witnesses said.
No injuries were reported as a result of the gunfire.
It was not immediately clear if the brave bystanders who took down the suspected shooter were part of the group that had interacted with him inside the store.
Cops said they found a black handgun on the suspect, who was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm.
Police did not provide further information on the incident, and said the investigation remains ongoing.
The shooting in Hell’s Kitchen occurred about an hour after three people were shot in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn after an argument with a gunman at the A/C Nostrand Avenue train station, police said.
