Two people were stabbed and six were struck by a car when deadly violence erupted outside a New York City hookah bar early Sunday, police said.
Police said one person was killed and that at least one person was critically injured in the crash. A search was underway for a white sedan. One person was in custody, and terrorism was not suspected, police said.
No motive for the brouhaha was immediately released. Officers became involved when responding to a 911 call in Queens of an assault in progress at 4:30 a.m., police said on Twitter. The tweet said the investigation was continuing.
The melee started out as a knife fight, the Daily News reported. A passing motorist, Ozzie Rogers, told the media outlet he saw a woman trying to hold back a combatant outside the bar and pulled over to get a closer look.
Moments later, he said, the car came crashing into the scene at about 50 mph, he said.
“The girl is yelling ‘Stop, stop. No, no,’ when this car just comes from nowhere and hits the whole group,” Rogers said. “The bodies went flying. The car was going really fast.”
Witnesses told WCBS-TV that a group of people was leaving the bar when they saw a man beating up another man on the sidewalk. Several people were yelling for the attacker to stop when the witnesses say a car roared down the sidewalk and crashed into group, then fled.
“I saw a couple of kids, just fighting,” said Milagros Urbina, who lives near the scene. “Suddenly I just see the white car driving through the sidewalk. They were all screaming, it was crazy. There was screaming before the car started driving, by the sidewalk.”
