A party meant to celebrate a teenager's 18th birthday party ended in gunfire and landed six people in the hospital on Long Island.
Police in Nassau County said the shooting started before 11 p.m. Friday at a house on Eastfield and Pepperidge roads in Westbury.
"The parents were there, it wasn’t like a house party," a young witness said. "It was literally a birthday party!"
"All of a sudden you hear a fire cracker and then just shots – everybody starts running, running. I got hurt in the whole running incident," another witness said after the commotion.
Responding officers found six people with varying gunshot wounds, all needing transport to nearby hospitals. All were expected to make a recovery.
A few of the teenagers who spoke after the incident said they didn’t get a look at the shooter and can’t imagine why anyone would bring a weapon to a teen party.
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"The kid who is hosting the party, he feels bad. He didn’t want nobody to get hurt in this situation, this was never supposed to happen," the teen said.
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Nassau County Police sent in their gang investigation squad detectives to scour the scene and interview witnesses.
Neighbors like Naved Ahmed feeling rattled that gun violence somehow slipped into this quiet neighborhood.
"Safety is obviously number one priority especially when you’re paying so much money property taxes where you live," Ahmed said.
