A gunman opened fire in a Manhattan park Saturday, wounding two innocent parkgoers enjoying the balmy weather, police said.
Gunshots rang out in Tompkins Square Park near Avenue A and E. Ninth St. in the East Village about 12:47 p.m. as scores of visitors enjoyed Saturday’s 60-degree temperatures, cops said.
Sparrow Byrnes, 10, said he was watching a hockey game in the park from his family’s apartment window when he heard gunfire followed by a person yelling, “There’s a shooting! There’s a shooting! Someone has a gun!”
“I heard five bangs. I didn’t see them shoot it. I didn’t see what they looked like,” said Sparrow. “Everyone ran out of the park. Some people stayed in the skateboard park.”
People ran from the Avenue B side of the park — which was away from the shooting scene — “because no one wants to be harmed,” said parkgoer Trevonni Stokes, 26. “It’s too much of a beautiful day to die.”
When police arrived, they found a man in his 30s shot in the buttocks and a woman in her 50s with a gunshot wound to the right hip.
EMS took both victims to Bellevue Hospital. Neither injury was believed to be life-threatening, cops said.
Both victims were hit by stray bullets, cops said. It was not immediately clear who was targeted by the gunman, who ran off west on E. Ninth St..
“It was crazy. I was very scared,” said Sparrow.
No arrests have been made. Cops said the gunman was wearing a black ski mask, a black hoodie with white lettering and was carrying a tan tote bag.
Cops on Saturday were scouring the area for surveillance footage that could help them identify the shooter.
