Two Teens Shot and Six Others Bear-Sprayed at New York City Pride March

Brittany Kriegstein and Ben Feuerherd / Gothamist

Two teen girls were injured in a shooting close to the Stonewall Inn as New York City’s Pride celebrations came to a close around 10:15 p.m. Sunday. As of Monday morning, police hadn't yet made any arrests.

The incident came just hours after close to 50 people were injured during a chaotic scene at Washington Square Park, where police said a man sprayed bear deterrent into the crowd around 7:45 p.m., causing a stampede. According to police, the man charged in that incident said he was afraid of being jumped and used the deterrent, a 8.1 ounce spray can with a picture of bear on the label, to defend himself.

As of Monday morning, police said the motive in the shooting near the Stonewall Inn still wasn’t clear. They said shots rang out around 10:15 p.m. in front of 3 Sheridan Square, an apartment building barely more than a block from the bar — which in 1969 was raided by police, setting off the modern-day LGBTQ rights movement. Gothamist observed blood stains in the area in front of the building, and a bullet hole marked by the NYPD in a wall. Police had previously described the incident as at the nearby corner of Grove Street and 7th Avenue.

Officers arrived at the scene to find a 16-year-old girl who had been shot in the head, and a 17-year-old girl who had been shot in the left leg. First responders took the 16-year-old to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition, and the 17-year-old to Northwell Greenwich Village Hospital in stable condition.

Police said there had been an altercation around the corner at Sheridan Square and West 4th Street a few minutes beforehand. They did not have a description of the shooter, and said it was unclear if the shooter knew the victims. NYPD officials said they also didn’t know whether the victims knew each other.

Police said a gun was recovered at the scene.

In a post on X, Mayor Eric Adams said he was saddened to learn about the shooting and promised that the NYPD would work “tirelessly” to arrest the suspect.

“During a time when our city should be rejoicing and celebrating members of our diverse LGBTQ+ community, incidents like this are devastating,” he said.

The Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street is central to LGBTQ history in New York — the site where patrons of the gay bar fought back against the 1969 police raid, in what became known as the Stonewall Riot or the Stonewall Rebellion. The city’s first Gay Pride March took place a year later, organized by the Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee. In 2016, President Barack Obama designated the bar and the area around it as a national monument.

Conor Weiss, who has lived near Stonewall since 1987, said he was out walking his dog Sunday night when he heard the shots.

“This is the first time in all the years I've lived here that I've even heard about anything close to this violence happening on Gay Pride Day, certainly in this neighborhood,” Weiss said.

Shootings in the 6th precinct – which includes the West Village and Greenwich Village – are extremely rare, according to NYPD CompStat data. Sunday night’s incident was the first shooting of the year, and there was no gun violence in the precinct in the first six months of last year.

In the Washington Square Park incident, police charged 33-year-old Manhattan resident Dominick Sabater with several crimes including assault, criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful possession or selling of noxious material. They said many of the revelers were left suffering from pain and redness to the face.