Street Peddler Killed in Times Square Shootout

Outside a Marriott Hotel at Times Square where the shootout ended on Thursday. (Aloysio Santos/The Epoch Times )

NEW YORK—A sidewalk in New York City’s Times Square was closed off after an armed street peddler was shot by police Thursday afternoon.

According to the Daily News, the gunman was identified as Raymond Martinez, 25, from the Bronx. Nobody else was injured during the incident.

Martinez, who was selling compact discs, was approached by a plainclothes police officer assigned to cracking down on illegal street vendors in Times Square, according to NY1 news.

When approached by police, Martinez fled on foot. Two plainclothes officers chased him when he allegedly turned and fired at them with a pistol leaving holes in nearby store windows. The two officers then fired back, hitting the gunman in front of the Marriott Hotel at 46th Street and Broadway.

Martinez was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A MAC-10 semiautomatic handgun, loaded with 27 rounds was found on Martinez, according to police. The gun is believed to have jammed while unloading its second round blocking other rounds from being fired.

“We’re very lucky that those rounds were not fired,” said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

The MAC-10 was reported stolen from a gun store in Richmond, Va. on October 28, 2009.