Gunfire has broken out inside an illegal gambling club in Brooklyn, leaving four people dead and three wounded.
The shooting inside the small, nondescript club started just before 7am local time on Saturday as around 15 people were gambling with dice and cards, police said.
Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said investigators were trying to determine if a gambling dispute, a robbery, or something else was to blame for the violence.
"A bit of a chaotic scene," Shea said.
Two handguns were recovered. Multiple shots were fired and police did not immediately say how many people might have been shooting.
The victims, who have not been identified, ranged in age from 32 to 49, Shea said.
Two may have lived out of state and the rest were from neighbourhoods throughout Brooklyn.
All of the people shot were men, save for one wounded woman. The injured were expected to survive. One additional person was hurt fleeing.
No one was immediately charged in the shooting, but police were questioning survivors and reviewing security camera footage.
The unlicensed club, adorned with a sign identifying it as the Triple A Aces Private & Social Event Space, was operating on the first floor of an older wood-frame townhouse on a block with some empty storefronts and boarded-up buildings.
Australian Associated Press