[ABC 7 and the NYPD on East 3rd Street yesterday. Photo by Steven]
A few more details are emerging about the shooting that took place outside the Hells Angels HQ on Third Street early Sunday morning.
Per previous reports, a 25-year-old man was shot in the gut after moving an orange traffic cone outside the HQ between First Avenue and Second Avenue.
The victim, identified as David Martinez of Spring Valley, and his friends were in a Mercedes Benz on the block. Earlier reports stated that they tried to move a cone to park. However, published reports now say that they were stuck behind a livery cab, and tried to move the cone to pass. Someone from the clubhouse reportedly told Martinez not to touch the cone. A fight ensued, and Martinez sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to his stomach.
According to a follow-up report in the Daily News, Martinez kicked the man who shot him, and investigators hope that DNA on his boot might help find the suspect, called a prospect of the club.
The fracas ... started when Martinez and four friends pulled up in a black Mercedes-Benz at about 1:20 a.m. and moved an orange cone in front of the building, sources said.
Martinez's friend, Joseph Gray, 25, was driving ... He didn't realize what the building was.
The prospect confronted Martinez and threw the first punch, sources said.
Martinez's male friends — Gray, Edmond Peters, 27, and Cecil Peters, also 27 — got out of the car, and more of the club's members spilled out of the building, sources said.
The two groups squared off and, at one point, Gray took a chain out of his trunk and started swinging, police sources said.
Martinez got the better of the prospect, punching and kicking him, and knocked him to the ground.
When Martinez moved in for another kick, the prospect sat up, gun in hand, and fired once.
According to the News, police are looking for a suspect who wore a hat with the word "dad" on it.
Meanwhile, the Post is all over the cone story. Yesterday morning, officers sitting in a police cruiser by the HQ noticed another orange cone outside the building.
And then!
[A]ll hell broke loose when a cop removed the orange cone and tossed it into a cruiser, prompting a roughneck lady Angel to burst into tears.
“I don’t know what to do! Why are they doing this?! I’m just trying to do the right thing!” the motorcycle mama sobbed.
The crybaby biker then hopped in a Chevy and nearly plowed into a Post photographer. Cops slapped her with three summonses, including failure to signal, failure to wear a seat belt and reckless driving, a police source said.
According to the Post, the members of the Hells Angels have not been cooperating with the NYPD's investigation.
