1 killed, 2 wounded in Penn Station shooting

Penn Station shooting

A shooter killed a 43-year-old and wounded two other men, one critically, inside a Penn Station subway entrance Monday morning, authorities said.

The assailant has not been captured, but sources say three men were seen fleeing the scene of the shooting near the intersection of 35th St. and 8th Ave. in a silver vehicle around 6:15 a.m.

The deadly altercation started outside a nearby McDonald’s, police said. Responders found the dead man on the steps of a subway entrance, with a gunshot wound in his neck, and the other two victims on the street.

The gunfire critically wounded a 45-year-old man who was struck in the neck and abdomen. Another man, 48, was shot in the leg. First responders rushed both men to Bellevue Hospital.

People in the neighborhoodsaid the three victims all knew each other from the West Midtown Medical Group methadone clinic, just a couple blocks from the crime scene.

“They were cool cats,” said Edmund Pieters, 52, another member of the clinic.

“They would just come down, get their methadone, a coffee and chill. I don’t know what happened. It’s crazy. It’s a whole new world down here at night.”

Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told reporters the shooting”doesn’t look like it has anything to do with the methadone clinic.”

The victims left the McDonald’s on their own, and the gunman followed them and opened fire after a dispute, Boyce said.

Thanks to its proximity to the methadone clinic, the fast food joint is a notorious haven for drug addicts. A New York Times report from July said addicts called the location “junkie McDonald’s.”

The intersection where the shooting happened is one block north of where the A, C and E subway lines converge at Penn Station. Police have closed several streets surrounding the area. At least two bus routes, M20 and M34A, are being detoured as police investigate the triple shooting.

Police officers were seen walking in and out of a subway entrance next to the Starbucks after the shooting. The street corner was taped off as pedestrians walked around the crime scene.