Man Samuel Poulin 21 is shot outside the Marriott Hotel in Times Square in broad daylight
A tourist was shot in New York’s Times Square in broad daylight during a bustling Sunday afternoon right outside the city’s biggest hotel.
Samuel Poulin, 21, a US Marine, was walking with his family at the time when he was struck by a bullet at around 5:15pm. He is believed to have been a completely innocent bystander who was visiting the city from Northville, upstate New York, to attend a baptism.
A group of five or six CD vendors were arguing under the Marriott Marquis sign on West 45th Street, according to police, when one pulled out a gun and fired a shot.
The victim’s wounds are not considered life-threatening but tourists in the vicinity were said to be shocked and frightened by what had unfolded before them.
A small group of people watched as crime scene tape was erected about the area with one police officer telling a tourist that it wasn’t ‘a show’, and that someone had been shot.
Samuel Poulin, 21, was walking with his family at the time when he was struck by a bullet at around 5:15pm
According to his social media posts, Poulin is a US Marine, though it’s not clear if he is still active or a member of the reserves
A man was shot in New York’s Times Square in broad daylight, on Sunday afternoon, just outside the Marriott Hotel
Officers cordoned off the area immediately outside the hotel where the shooting took place
A small group of people watched as crime scene tape was erected about the area with one police officer telling a tourist that it wasn’t ‘a show’, and that someone had been shot
Crime scene techs can be seen working close to where Sunday evening’s shooting happened in Times Square
Poulin was struck in the back and taken to Bellevue Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The circumstances surrounding the shooting are unknown, but it does not appear the victim was the intended target.
Police are now combing through surveillance video in an effort to identify the two suspects responsible. No arrests have been made.
Shell casings were recovered on West 45th Street outside the Minskoff Theater, which remains closed because of COVID.
‘We were sitting at Juniors when a loud pop happened. And everybody ran for the hotel, they ran inside,’ said Sydney Santana who witnesses the shooting, to the New York Post.
‘It really is bad that [the shooting] happened in Times Square,’ Santana said.
The New York Marriott Marquis is the largest hotel in the city with 1,966 rooms.
The victim was walking by the Marriott Marquis on Broadway around 5:15 p.m. when he was struck by a bullet
Police are looking through surveillance video in their search for two suspects in connection to the shooting
Officers say the victim appears to be an innocent bystander
The man was hit by gunfire Sunday afternoon while walking through Times Square with his family
Officers taped off the area while an investigation took place into the circumstances of the shooting
Law enforcement flooded the area outsider the Marriott which is normally thronging with tourist
A small group of interested passers-by gathered to watch what was happening
Sunday afternoon’s shooting is the second such incident in Times Square in little over a month and comes just as the city is welcoming tourists back to one of its most famous landmarks.
Three bystanders were struck by gunfire in May, including a four-year-old child.
The alleged gunman responsible for the May shooting was apprehended days later in Florida after fleeing the city.
Statistics show shooting crimes have been up this year city-wide compared to last year
Crimes have been rising throughout New York City, according to the NYPD
The latest shooting comes just over a week since a violent shooting on a sidewalk in the Bronx narrowly missed killing two young children.
As of June 20, 777 people have been shot throughout New York City in 680 shootings in 2021, according to department crime figures online.
That is an increase of 48 percent in the number of victims compared with the same time last year, in 53 percent more shootings which have skyrocketed since the pandemic gripped the country.
