A 16-year-old New York City boy was fatally shot in the head in a brazen daylight attack by a bike-riding gunman, with law enforcement sources saying it could be school-related.
Mahki Brown was brutally gunned down outside of an upscale Soho hotel on Spring Street just before 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, police told the New York Post.
The shooting took place on the opposite side of the street from Chelsea Career and Technical Education High School when a suspect on a Citi Bike rode by with a firearm.
Brown, who was also shot twice in the leg, was later identified as a student of the nearby Broome Street Academy Charter High School.
The Crown Heights teen was rushed to Bellevue Hospital before being pronounced dead, police said.
It is currently unclear if Brown was the intended target, but police sources told the outlet that the terrifying homicide may be connected to a dispute between two groups of girls from earlier that day.
No one has been arrested for the shooting, but police are currently searching for at least two suspects, according to the Daily Mail.
“It was sickening,” a security guard who witnessed the event told the Post. “He was just laid down, looking unconscious. I saw some blood on the shirt, but I didn’t look — nothing nice. That was a human on the floor. That was movie-like.”
“No matter how nice a place is or stuff like that, you always kind of have to be on high alert, in a sense,” he added. “Soho — good vibes, good energy, very diverse. You don’t expect certain things in a nice area.”
A nearby parking attendant said he ran for his life when he heard the gunshots.
“I was protecting myself because you didn’t know where the sound was coming from,” he told the publication. “People were running, so I also ran.”