OAN Staff Lillian Mann
1:22 PM – Sunday, July 5, 2026
A masked gunman opened fire at a Fourth of July family barbecue in Coney Island, New York City, shooting at least eight people, including four children, and leaving one of the victims in critical condition, according to authorities.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) said the unidentified man, dressed entirely in black and wearing a ski mask, approached the barbecue Saturday night, fired multiple rounds and then fled on foot.
Two individuals, a 33-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman, were both shot in the chest; a 37-year-old man was shot in the shoulder; a 6-year-old boy was shot in the stomach; and four others–a 25-year-old woman and three boys ages 7, 12 and 14–were also injured, police reported.
“All victims were transported by EMS to local area hospitals where seven people were listed in stable condition,” the NYPD stated, according to ABC News. “The 21-year-old woman is listed in critical condition.”
The shooting occurred at about 10:35 p.m. local time in a Brooklyn neighborhood near the crowded Coney Island boardwalk where a fireworks display took place less than an hour before.
At a Sunday press briefing, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch reported that the victims were found in a courtyard where a family was having a barbecue.
“An unknown male dressed in all-black and wearing a black ski mask approached the fence line and fired multiple rounds into the courtyard and then fled on foot,” Tisch said. “There is no indication at this time that there was any argument or altercation at the barbecue before the shooting occurred.”
The NYPD recovered a TEC-9-style firearm with an extended magazine and 10 spent shell casings from the scene but no arrests have been made, according to Tisch.
The commissioner also addressed a confirmed gang-related homicide that took place on the same block earlier in the week, saying that authorities are investigating whether the two cases were connected.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D-N.Y.) also spoke at the briefing on Sunday. He emphasized that there is “no place in our city for this kind of violence.”
“We will not tolerate it,” Mamdani said. “And we will fight it with every tool at our disposal.”
The street where the shooting occurred remains cordoned off with yellow police tape, with abandoned bicycles lying on the sidewalk.
Coney Island resident Nsowaa Stewart said she was “outraged” about the violent attack, especially since it involved children.
“This is an emergency, and this has to be addressed,” she told NBC New York at the scene of the incident.
“If you go by there, you see bikes, you see children’s toys. It’s horrible to walk by there,” Stewart said, adding that, “This can’t happen again.”
As the nation celebrated its semiquincentennial, there were reportedly at least six mass shootings across the U.S. on Saturday, with at least two more reported on Sunday morning, according to The Guardian.
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