Valley Stream shooting leaves Brooklyn man dead, 12-year-old boy among wounded

VALLEY STREAM, N.Y. — One person was killed and four others were injured when shots rang out during a party Monday night on Long Island. 

The shooting happened around 8:30 p.m. at an rental hall on Ocean Avenue in Valley Stream. 

Police said the gunman approached from 131st Avenue on the Queens border and fired eight shots. A 20-year-old man from Brooklyn was struck in the chest and died at the hospital. 

A 12-year-old boy and two 17-year-olds were also shot but are expected to survive. Another teen was treated for a cut on her hand, but it’s unclear how she was injured. 

Watch: Update on investigation

Police said 50 to 60 people — many of them underage — were at the party, which advertised a DJ and alcohol.

“This advertisement that went out on social media was sent throughout the community and invited a crowd of people there where they were serving alcohol and, possibly, also liquid marijuana,” Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said. 

“Look, it’s simple. Your kids are all on these sites. They get invites to these parties,” he went on to say. “These are not organized parties, these are not your typical establishments that are licensed to sell alcohol, check ID and those who come in to their restaurant or their establishment. So these types of parties we try to make sure that we shut down before.”

CBS New York’s Zinnia Maldonado spoke with the event space owner, who said what was supposed to be an end of summer party unfortunately got out of hand.

“We never had anything like this happen before,” said Deborah Young, who owns Dopie’s World. “Clearly things got out of hand… From what I gather, the person that was struck took refuge inside of my event space. Unfortunately, I heard that he didn’t make it, so my condolences.” 

Young said the day party started at 3 p.m. and was set to be over by 10 p.m. By Tuesday morning, there were bullet holes in the windows and tossed furniture and debris inside. 

One witness said the evening started off calm, but suddenly an argument broke out and people started running.

“It was a quiet, peaceful night, maybe a little bit of music. Not too much loud music. No violent music. No type of energy like that. We were only here to have a good time, at the end of the day. Next thing you know, the good time turned into a bad night and they start getting a little violent,” witness Keith Joseph said. “Next thing you know, I just see some running. It’s usually a friendly neighborhood.”

The shooting left residents in shock.

“It’s always been a nice neighborhood. I’ve been here 50 years, and we’ve never had any problems. So I didn’t know what was going on,” said Dela Gibbs.

Another neighbor who has lived nearby for 25 years said parties at that location recently became an issue.

“They throw parties in there all the time, they have people there with cars in the middle of the street,” Sanny James said. “The neighborhood around here is very quiet, and that business has, most of the time, people fighting. People are very upset around here.”

Police said the gunman took off heading west into Queens. They are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS.