Police are investigating a high school party that turned ugly when someone at the First Houses reportedly tossed a chemical substance from above onto the crowd, sending at least 10 teens to the hospital for minor burns.
According to
The New York Times (the story was also
picked up by the Associated Press), as many as 300 teens were at the party in a rented basement room at First Houses, the public housing complex on Third Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.
Partygoers paid $10 to enter a basement room usually reserved for tenant meetings.
To the
Times:
The music was blasting as the crowd, which included teenagers from an elite public high school in Brooklyn, spilled into the courtyard. Barely an hour had passed before residents of the development ... called the police at about 10 p.m.
But someone upstairs had decided to do something about it. White paint and a caustic chemical were poured from overhead, burning at least 10 of the teenagers in the courtyard, the police said on Sunday.
And...
Valerie Vail, the mother of one victim, said many partygoers were students at Brooklyn Technical High School, including her daughter, a sophomore who she said was attending her first party as a student there. The attack left the girl with burns the size of dimes and quarters on her back, chest and arms, Ms. Vail said.
She said her daughter had shown her photos of other partygoers who had large burns across their chests, necks and legs.
After the paint and chemicals rained down, some partygoers rushed the East Third Street building’s front door and attempted to force their way in, slamming their fists against the door’s glass panes, cracking one, said Michael Strachan, 60, who lives in the building.
There is an unconfirmed report that a man who lived in the building "appeared to have thrown an orange-colored drain cleaner on the crowd below." Some of the injured teens ran to a nearby deli and poured milk onto the burns.
Tenants told the
Times that they do not believe the party host lived in the building.