By Sarina Trangle
Two brothers hanging out with friends on their East Elmhurst stoop Friday night were greeted briefly by a duo who then allegedly fired a flurry of bullets, sending four to the hospital, the NYPD and a relative said.
Pedro Fernandez, whose two sons were injured by the gunfire in front of their home, said his children and their two friends are expected to survive.
“They were outside drinking a couple of beers,” Fernandez said, when two men wearing hooded sweatshirts and cloth obstructing their faces approached. “One said to my son, ‘What’s up?’ and that was it. They started shooting.”
Fernandez said the four scrambled to run inside his house, located on 106th Street near Northern Boulevard. But all were struck by bullets.
A police department spokesman said officers were called to the house at 9:50 p.m. where a 25-year-old man was found with a gunshot wound to his back and injuries from where a bullet grazed his head, a 34-year-old man had been shot in the right eye and face, a 30-year-old man had been struck in the back and had a bullet graze his head and a 24-year-old man’s arm had been nicked by a bullet.
The four were rushed to Elmhurst Hospital, according to police.
Officers said descriptions of the suspects were scarce because the two were wearing black hooded sweatshirts and had covered their faces with bandannas.
The pair is believed to have run north toward Astoria Boulevard after the shooting, according to the NYPD.
Police sources said three of the four victims had been arrested on marijuana possession or sales charges in the past. But the NYPD had not yet established a motive.
Fernandez said one of his sons had been shot in the arm a few times and was released from the hospital by Saturday afternoon. The other had been blasted in the back four times, but doctors said he would be OK, according to Fernandez.
The father said the man hit in the face would lose his eye and the other friend was expected to recover from four shots to his back.
He said his family had no idea why it was targeted.
“I have been here five years, never has nothing like this happened before. I’m scared to go back to the house,” he said, noting that his family may need to stay in a shelter or rely on relatives before saving up for a new home. “I have to move.”
Reach reporter Sarina Trangle at 718-260-4546 or by e-mail at strangle@cnglocal.com.
