'This is a brazen, coordinated attack': 10 people are shot - including seven innocent bystanders - in bloody NYC gang shooting on busy Queens street by moped gang

Harrowing footage captured the moment two men approached a crowd in a busy Queens neighborhood and fired about 40 shots, injuring 10 people before fleeing the scene on mopeds, as New York City's violent summer of crime rages on. 

The shooters were targeting members of the Trinitarios gang on Saturday night in the borough's Corona neighborhood, police said. 

They opened fire while some bystanders were walking outside a barbershop and others were at a nearby restaurant for a birthday party. 

The victims included a 72-year-old woman and a 70-year-old man, both of whom were shot in the leg, in addition to seven other men and one other woman. All were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police. 

Three of the shooting victims were intended targets, police said, but seven were people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

The most seriously injured victim suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said at a news conference on Sunday morning. 

Police footage reveals the moment two men approached a crowd in a busy Queens neighborhood and opened fire, injuring 10 people

The men were gang members targeting rivals from the Trinitarios gang during the shooting on Saturday night in the borough's Corona neighborhood, police said

Following the violence, the shooters hopped on mopeds and fled the scene 

Essig described what was caught in the surveillance footage as 'pretty disturbing.' 

‘The two males immediately extended their arms and began firing in the direction of a group in front of the barber shop down the street,' he said. 'There was a party going on at the restaurant just a few stores away . . . This was, as I can most accurately describe it, a brazen, coordinated attack.

‘There’s just one common theme I want to get out there that’s a recurring theme that keeps happening and it has to stop throughout the city. That’s gang members, that’s guns, multiple guns on the scene, scooters being used, masks and, lastly, unintended targets getting hit. This is unacceptable in our streets of NYC and it has to stop.’

Police said the two gunmen arrived at the scene on foot, but left by jumping on the backs of two mopeds driven by two other men. All four were wearing hooded sweatshirts and masks.  

It is unclear which gang the shooters are affiliated with, if any, but police said they were clearly targeting the three Trinitarios members.

The Trinitarios gang formed in Ryker’s Island in 1993 as a means of protecting Hispanic inmates from other gangs. New York gang members are known to use machetes in their attacks. Outside jail, the Trinitarios began in the Marcy Houses in Brooklyn before expanding throughout the city and Long Island. 

No one was in custody as of Sunday morning, police said. 

‘We need the community’s help on this one,’ said Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes at the news conference. ‘Someone’s gonna see that video, they’re gonna see those still photos, and they’re gonna say, I know that clothing, or the video, I know their gait. I know so-and-so walks that way and that’s why we’re really appealing to the public. Our biggest asset is the public when it comes to solving crimes like this.’ 

City Council Member Francisco Moya, who represents the 21st Council District in which the shooting happened, said in a statement provided to CNN, ‘The uptick in gun violence has been a reality of daily life in the outer boroughs and for communities of color. 

He added: 'This is not just a Manhattan problem making headlines because we are concerned about scaring away tourists. We are trying to survive the COVID-19 pandemic – and a gun violence pandemic. This is why I'm working to bring more opportunity for interventions to our neighborhood through Saturday Night Lights and Cure Violence.’

New York City saw another violent night Saturday with seven additional shootings that left 18 people injured or killed in seven additional shootings.  

Police gave an update on the shooting at a news conference the following morning. Speaking above was Assistant Chief Galen Frierson, of the NYPD's Patrol Borough Queens North

The most seriously injured victim suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said 

Less than 30 minutes after the Corona shooting, three innocent women were hit by gunfire when two groups exchanged gunshots in Inwood. The victims included a 78-year-old woman shot in the hand, a 58-year-old woman shot in the leg and a 42-year-old woman who was grazed in the left arm, the New York Daily News reported.

Five other people were shot in separate incidents between 12am and 5am, two of whom died from their injuries. One was a 32-year-old man who was repeatedly shot in the torso while sitting in his car in Brooklyn at 4.30am.

A second man, 26, was shot in the chest during an unrelated drive by shooting in Crown Heights and died at Kings County Hospital.

As of Saturday night, 1,056 people were hit by gunfire in 898 incidents this year. That’s a 12 percent jump from the 938 people shot in the same period last year, according to police data.

The Gun Violence Archive noted the Queens mass shooting as one of five mass shootings that took place on Saturday. Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky also saw mass shootings where no deaths were reported, GVA reported Sunday. 

NYPD's CompStat shows a slight increase in total crimes in July 2021 when compared to the same time period last year

Robberies, grand larcenies and felony assaults are among the crimes that are spiking citywide

Shootings so far this year have steadily increased since January, with a small dip in June and July