New York baby shower shooting leaves four wounded

At least four people were shot and wounded at a baby shower in Brooklyn on Sunday night, the authorities said.

The victims, three men and one woman in their early 20s, were shot outside an event hall in East Flatbush while the baby shower was taking place inside.

The police confirmed that four people were shot around 8:30pm on Remsen Avenue. A man (22) was shot in the chest and a woman (22) was shot in the arm, and both of them were taken to Kings County Hospital, officials said. Another man, a 20-year-old who was shot in the shoulder, was also being treated there. A 21-year-old man was shot in the leg and taken to Brookdale Hospital. None of their injuries were considered life-threatening, police and fire officials said.

It was not clear on Sunday night what prompted the gunfire. The police released few details about the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation.

In on-scene interviews with WABC-TV, local residents described hearing more than 20 shots ring out and said it sounded like fireworks. The Rev Terry Lee, a pastor at the Byways and Hedges, a local church, said: "It don't make no sense. I think that there's a better way to resolve our conflicts without pulling out a gun."

The shooting occurred less than a month after a man was killed and two people were injured by a motorist who had attended a baby shower in Queens. The driver had been in a fight at the shower, the police said, and drove into a crowd of people who were leaving. A man, Kevin Weekes, was charged with murder, assault and reckless endangerment. New York Times News Service