A baby shower held late into the night at the Volume Seventeen event venue in Richmond Hill, Queens, New York City turned into a horrific scene when bullets were fired in the early hours of Saturday, April 4, 2024. The New York Police Department (NYPD) reported that the gunfire took the life of one man and left three others injured.
A distress call received at 1:30 a.m. led the police to the site, located at 108-11 Atlantic Avenue. Upon arrival, they discovered Jefari Dobie, a 24-year-old Brooklyn resident, critically injured. Despite resuscitation attempts, Dobie was pronounced dead on arrival at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.
Three other men suffered injuries during the shooting: a 45-year-old man was shot in the left leg, a 26-year-old was hit in the right arm, and a 43-year-old man arrived at the hospital with two gunshot wounds in his right arm and one in his left leg. All three victims were reported in stable condition at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Queens, and Jamaica Hospital.
Local residents reported hearing several gunshots just before 1:30 a.m. Wasir Rasul, a resident who had just returned from his night shift at JFK Airport, shared with local media, “I heard pop, pop, and thought it was a firecracker. I went back inside to avoid getting shot.”
Security camera footage revealed terrified guests escaping from the venue as at least a dozen shots rang out. Another camera recorded a white sedan driving away at high speed down Atlantic Avenue shortly after the shooting took place. The venue’s doors and windows were left pockmarked with bullet holes, and the floor was strewn with overturned tables and baby shower decorations.
The NYPD confirmed that no arrests have been made so far and the investigation is still ongoing. The police are also trying to determine the reasons behind the shooting.
Residents voiced their concerns over the Volume Seventeen venue, claiming it has been trouble since its opening two years prior. “There’s nothing new about it. Every weekend, it’s the same going on,” Rasul commented. His wife, Nadia Rasul, expressed, “Seventeen years I’m living here. Never see this.”
Mike Sullivan, a parent with children attending a dance studio adjacent to the venue, expressed gratitude that the studio was closed during the shooting. “It was a little bit scary, and I thank God this studio was closed at that time,” Sullivan told CBS New York. He mentioned the possibility of a neighborhood petition to shut down the venue, saying, “I would be right on top of the list.”
Within 45 minutes of the baby shower shooting, the police also responded to two other shooting incidents.
Fifteen minutes after the Richmond Hill incident, at approximately 1:40 a.m., a 25-year-old man was shot in the head outside 199-23 Linden Blvd. in Jamaica, Queens. He was rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in a critical condition.
Shortly after 1 a.m., in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, two men were shot at 15 Albany Ave. One man, aged 47, was hit in the stomach, while another, aged 34, was shot in the right elbow. Authorities are searching for two suspects who escaped the scene on bicycles heading towards Fulton Street.
There have been no arrests connected to any of the incidents, and police have yet to disclose whether the shootings are related.
Distressed parents and community members spoke out about the violent incidents that have rocked the Richmond Hill neighborhood. One parent expressed, “To come and just witness a scene of something like this happening is very devastating in our community. We pay some of the highest taxes in the nation, but living in an unsafe environment isn’t what we want our kids to experience.”
