Sources: Two Men Shot in Flatiron Were Leaving Illegal Club

Police are investigating after two men were shot Friday morning on a Manhattan street.

Police say the two men, ages 24 and 34, were each shot in the ankle around 6:30 a.m. near the vicinity of 24th Street and 6th Avenue in Flatiron.

Both were rushed to Bellevue Hospital and are expected to survive.

“We were coming out from a club and there was a bunch of police sirens and police cars and ambulances, and me and my group were just walking out this way and the cops just rounded up a bunch of us and just stopped us, they said no one could cross. There were shots, two people got hit and we didn’t know anything after that,” said one witness.

Sources say just before the shooting the victims exited an illegal club located at 17 West 24th Street.

The building is owned by Prime Hotel Management, which was cited for illegal occupancy by the city Department of Buildings shortly after the shooting.

A lawyer for Prime Hotel says the company was in the process of having the building vacated and had no idea a club was operating there.

Area businessman Raymond Holland says there have been mornings when club goers were leaving as he arrived for work.

“When I would come in early, you would see people coming out at seven in the morning, coming out wasted,” he told NY1.

A DOB inspector who was on site would not comment on what was found inside the building.

Community board members and the local business improvement district say despite the shooting, the area has actually undergone dramatic improvement over what used to be with fewer nightclubs taking up residency.

“This is actually a very safe neighborhood. Been working here for seven years now this is a first,” said one passerby.

“This block used to be terrible. It’s gotten a lot better. There used to be all sorts of crap,” Holland added.

Anyone with information on the case should contact the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS, or text CRIMES and then enter TIP577, or visit http://ift.tt/17IHIZe

NEWS – NY1

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