Police identified one of the suspects on Tuesday in a triple shooting near Penn Station following a dispute that started in a nearby McDonald’s.
A pair of hooded men, including 27-year-old Vincent Arcona of Medford, first walked up to the group as they were having coffee in the fast food restaurant on 34th Street, near 8th Avenue, on Monday morning, Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said at an unrelated news conference. The two groups had a brief interaction, police said, before the suspects left.
The three victims then left the McDonald’s and made their way down into the stairwell of the 34th Street A/C/E station just before 6:15 a.m. The suspects had been waiting outside for them, police said.
“Those three individuals who ended up begin shot were followed into the subway,” Boyce said. “We have that on videotape right now. Four shots were fired, striking all three.”
Investigators believe the motive for the shooting was possibly drug-related. Boyce said the area is an “active narcotics location,” adding that police have made 52 drug-related arrests so far this year in front of and inside that McDonald’s.
A representative for the McDonald’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the shooting.
It was not immediately clear what Arcona’s role was in the shooting. Posters showing Arcona’s face were hung around midtown, describing the suspect as “armed and dangerous.”
Angel Quinones, 43, was shot in the neck and pronounced dead at the scene. A 45-year-old man identified as William Lamboy was in critical condition after he was shot in the neck and stomach, police said. A 48-year-old man identified as Eddie Torres was in stable condition after being shot in the leg. Both were taken to Bellevue Hospital Center.
Police said three men fled northbound on Eighth Avenue in a dark-colored sedan.
By midday on Monday trains were running regularly, but the 35th Street northbound exit to the station remained closed off. Dozens of people milled about their business in the busy intersection as investigators collected evidence from the station below.
John Harary, 21, works in a nearby real estate office and was not surprised to hear the violence involved the area McDonald’s, known as a popular hangout for area drug users.
“It doesn’t look like there’s so much legal activity going on over there all the time,” Harary said. “There’s a lot of shady business going on over there. It’s very, very disturbing.”
Washington Heights resident Tee Duro, 31, was surprised to hear about the shooting in such a busy area of midtown.
“I don’t even want to stay here right now,” said Duro, who was in the area on Monday for a job interview. “This is a very busy place. I wasn’t expecting something like that to happen in a place like this.”
