A Valentine’s Day celebration turned bloody over the weekend when a gunman opened fire at the Hookah Sports
Bar located on 107th Street at Rockaway Boulevard in Ozone Park.
The incident took place on Sunday morning, February 17 around 4:20 a.m. Police from the 106th Precinct responded to a 911 call and upon their arrival found the victim, identified as 32-year-old Andre Bettis, lying face up on the floor inside the bar with a gun shot wound to the chest.
According to police, employees of the bar described the shooter as a male black, about 38 years of age , 5’ 10 “ and 180 lbs.
A group of customers, believed to be employees of the nearby Resort World Casino, had gone to the bar for a Valentine’s Day party and a fight involving the suspect had broken out. The unidentified man was tossed out of the bar according to one of the bouncers for causing the dispute believed to be over a girl.
The party continued after the man was thrown out but sometime later he returned, this time with a revolver. He made his way into the entrance of the bar where he reportedly began screaming at a woman before he squeezed off 5 rounds into the crowd, hitting Bettis with one bullet that passed through his chest and exited through his arm according to sources at Jamaica Hospital. No one else was struck.
After firing the shots, the perpetrator fled the scene. But according to neighbors, the incident did not end there. One man who lives in an upstairs apartment across the street told The Forum that the loud raucous crowd emptied out onto the street where fighting continued.
“There were people everywhere,” the man who asked not to be identified said. “People, a lot more than should legally be in that bar, were all over the street. It was a nasty scene. Cops were everywhere.” And other neighbors at the scene said that the establishment is well known for the trouble it brings to the area.
“They shut them down a couple of times,” according to Raphael Rodriguez who lives on the quiet residential street down from the bar. “But they pay their fines and are allowed to keep reopening. Somebody will get killed here. That’s for sure.”
Andre Bettis was taken to Jamaica Hospital where he remains in critical but stable condition. Police are searching for the shooter and continuing with their investigation.
By Patricia Adams
