Police Searching for Suspects as Gun Battle in Brooklyn Apartment Lobby Is Caught on Video

A man can be seen brandishing a weapon before a shootout . (NYPD Crimestoppers)

Police in New York City are searching for suspects who engaged in a shootout in a Brooklyn apartment building lobby last month.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) said on Sept. 4 that the incident happened at around 1 am. on Aug. 25 in the Marlboro Houses in Brooklyn’s Gravesend neighborhood.

A group of men can be seen firing shots at one another, according to video footage released by the NYPD. One man is seen brandishing a gun and opening fire as the others scatter.

A second person is also seen opening fire amid the chaos.

No injuries were reported, police told ABC7.

The NYPD said that the shootout was among numerous shootings in New York City last month, saying shooting incidents are up 166 percent in August compared with August 2019. The NYPD’s date showed there were 242 shootings last month compared with the 91 during the same month last year.

The increase in shootings comes as the NYPD experienced a drop in manpower due to Black Lives Matter-associated calls to defund the police that led to a cut in $1 billion from the nation’s largest law enforcement agency. There has also been a significant number of retirements over the summer, presumably due to the wave of anti-police sentiment triggered by the Black Lives Matter movement.

“We have calculated that approximately 2,000 to 3,000, maybe even 4,000 less officers are out on the streets for any given week,” said Michael LiPetri, the NYPD’s chief of crime control strategies, according to CBS News. “That’s where the overtime was going last summer. The overtime was going to the most violent commands in New York City,” LiPetri said.

Anyone with information in regard to the identity of these suspects should call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). People can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or via Twitter @NYPDTips.