TIMES SQUARE, Manhattan -- At least three people are in custody and are being questioned by detectives after a food vendor was shot in Times Square this morning.
Police sources confirm that they were able to detain at least three men who were part of a group that had gathered around a set of food carts at one of the busiest intersections in the city, 47th Street and Seventh Avenue, just before 5 a.m.
According to NYPD Chief of Department John Chell, the group was headed into the subway station at the southeast corner of the intersection, when someone fired a gun. One bullet hit one of the vendors.
He's been identified by family members as Ayaman Gzale, 27.
According to Gzale's relatives, who also operate food carts in the Times Square area, the group of men had been fighting in the intersection, and then moved over toward the food carts.
One of the men stole an item off of the food cart, fellow vendors said. That's when the cart operator closest to the intersection called a friend over for help. That friend was Gzale. He helped to get the group of men to disburse, and as they did, gunfire rang out, according to his family.
Ismail Abdulgaffar, the manager of the corner food carts, said that Gzale was hit in the right arm by one of six shots fired. Abdulgaffar said that Gzale is at Bellevue Hospital, and is expected to be okay.
For now, no charges have been filed in the case, but Chief Chell said that detectives are convinced that one of the men in custody is the shooter.
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