A man has been killed and three others wounded in a shooting inside a concert venue in New York City, where hip-hop artist TI was scheduled to perform, police said.
It happened around 10.15pm on Wednesday in a third-floor green room area at Irving Plaza, near Manhattan's Union Square. It was not immediately known who had access to that area.
Police said a 33-year-old man was shot in the stomach. He was taken to a hospital, where he died a short time later. A 34-year-old man was shot in the chest. He was listed in critical condition. A 26-year-old woman and a 30-year-old man were both shot in the leg. They were expected to survive.
Elijah Rodriguez was attending the concert with his sister and they were in the VIP area by the stage.
He said TI was supposed to go on stage at 9pm or 9.30pm but "he never showed up."
At or around 10 pm he said the venue started playing music again, and at about 10.15pm, he saw a line of people coming out from where the performers were coming onstage.
"All the sudden I heard someone saying that there was a shot, that someone got shot," Rodriguez said.
"It was scary to deal with. When I got outside, like literally across the street, there were a few girls having, like, panic attacks. One girl thought she saw someone get shot in front of her," Rodriguez said, adding that TI was not onstage when the shots were fired. Video shot inside the venue showed a chaotic scene as concertgoers rushed to the sides trying to leave the area as a group of people tended to a person on the floor.
Representatives for TI, whose real name is Clifford Joseph Harris Jr, said they were referring all questions about the shooting to police.
No arrests were made.
