A summer night of neighborhood basketball in Harlem ended in gunfire, leaving one person dead and two others wounded. According to Eyewitness News, the shooting broke out at a basketball court and drew an NYPD response, turning what had been a community sporting event into the scene of a deadly attack in the middle of the city.
The violence unfolded at a well-known Harlem location. According to the account, the shooting happened at the Kings Towers, where the gunfire erupted during an event tied to the Kingdome NYC street ball tournament, a fixture of the neighborhood's summer sporting calendar that draws players and spectators to the court.
The tournament itself is a long-running tradition in the city. According to Eyewitness News, Kingdome NYC is an annual street ball institution during the summer, with teams from around the city playing games on Fridays through Sundays, making it a regular gathering point for basketball fans across New York during the warmer months.
The timing placed the shooting at the height of the evening's action. According to the account, the previous night had been the tournament's opening night, with four games on the schedule. The first game had started at 5:30, and the shooting took place during the final game of the evening, when a crowd would have been on hand to watch.
The attack proved fatal for one of those who was hit. According to Eyewitness News, a 35-year-old man was shot in the head and rushed to Mount Sinai, where he was pronounced dead, making him the only fatality in an incident that also left others injured in the same burst of gunfire.
Two more people were caught up in the shooting but survived. According to the account, a 28-year-old man was struck in the leg and a 22-year-old woman was hit in the arm. Both were among the wounded taken for treatment, their injuries less severe than those suffered by the man who was killed.
For now, the motive and sequence of events remain under investigation. According to Eyewitness News, the exact circumstances of the shooting are still unclear, and the NYPD is working to piece together what led to the gunfire at the Kings Towers court during one of the summer's marquee street ball nights.