4 shot, 33 arrested in Manhattan melee

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/04/06/4_shot_33_arrested_in_manhattan_melee/
4 shot, 33 arrested in Manhattan melee
Tuesday, April 6, 2010

In this image taken from video, New York police detained people involved in a melee near Times Square. Mayor Michael Bloomberg described the night’s events as “wilding.’’ (Associated Press/ APTN)

NEW YORK — Four people were shot and dozens were arrested yesterday in a milelong stretch of Manhattan near Times Square in a melee after the city’s annual auto show, police said.
A group of teenagers and young adults ran amok, squaring off against one another and harassing pedestrians along a 1-mile stretch of midtown near the Jacob A. Javits Center, where the New York International Auto Show is held, police said.

Paul J. Browne, a New York Police Department spokesman, said additional officers were on patrol because similar problems have happened during past auto shows.

“Young men looking for trouble afterwards,’’ he said of those arrested.

Four people were arrested on gang assault charges — three males ages 17 to 23 and a teenage girl — and investigators were working to identify the gunmen. Twenty-nine other people were arrested, mostly on charges of disorderly conduct.

Police described those arrested as mostly teens and young adults who live in the city’s outer boroughs.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg described the night’s events as “wilding.’’

“This is just a bunch of people who shouldn’t be on the streets if they behave this way, and we’re not going to stand for it,’’ he said.

The four people who were shot were in stable condition, police said.