UPDATE: Friday, November 8 at 1:40 p.m.: Eduardo Diaz, 42, was arrested Friday morning in connection to yesterday’s shooting near West 68th Street and Columbus Avenue, police announced at 1:30 p.m. on Friday.
Diaz, a Queens resident, has been charged with attempted murder, assault, assault with a weapon, and criminal possession of a weapon, according to NYPD.
Diaz was arrested sometime Friday morning, but it is unclear as of 1:45 p.m. where he was found.
Please check back in for more updates.
UPDATE: Friday, November 8 at 9 a.m.: The shooter and victim knew each other, law enforcement officials confirmed to the New York Times on Thursday afternoon. The man armed with the gun previously worked with the 47-year-old victim at Lincoln Business Machines, a computer store on 68th Street between Columbus Avenue and Broadway, according to the Times.
The gunman had recently been fired from the store as a remote worker, and the victim was his boss, the New York Post reported.
The two men got into an argument within the store, before the victim ran out onto the street toward Columbus Avenue where the gunshots then took place, according to the New York Times.
The attacker fled into the 72nd Street and Central Park West train station, according to police. He then escaped from the subway tunnels through an emergency exit grate at 76th Street and Central Park West, multiple publications reported, including ABC7.
He is in his 40s and was last seen wearing a black hoodie and a green jacket, police said.
The suspect is still on the loose as of 9 a.m. on Friday, police said.
This is a developing story please check back in for details.
Original Story
By Gus Saltonstall
A man was shot twice Thursday morning on the Upper West Side, a police spokesperson confirmed to West Side Rag.
The 47-year-old man was shot in the shoulder and leg around 9:20 a.m. at the corner of West 68th Street and Columbus Avenue, police said.
He was taken to a local hospital in stable condition, NYPD added.
The shooter fled the scene and ran into the 72nd Street and Central Park West B and C station, police said. There has been no arrest, NYPD added as of 11 a.m.
ABC7 is reporting that after the suspect fled into the train station, he may have escaped through an emergency exit at 76th Street and Central Park West, and that police are now searching Central Park. The Rag was not able to confirm this with NYPD, but ABC has a photo of officers looking into a subway grate exit at the location.
“I was inside and heard maybe four shots, then a pause, and then three or four more,” Craig Hein, who was in his nearby apartment at the time of the shooting, told West Side Rag. “My downstairs neighbor then saw cops run toward Central Park, but didn’t see the suspect. I did see the victim on the ground, and he luckily didn’t seem to be in terrible condition.”
Hein, along with multiple people gathered around 11:30 a.m. on West 68th Street and Columbus Avenue, told the Rag that it seemed like the shooter and victim knew each other and were in some sort of argument, before the bullets flew.
Other witnesses confirmed seeing the suspect fire bullets through the bus shelter, almost directly in front of the Blank Street Coffee location. The motive for the shooting remains unclear.
The search for the suspect has also affected train service, as A, B, C and D trains are running with significant delays as of 12:15 p.m. as the NYPD continues to conduct its investigation at the 72nd Street and Central Park West station, according to the MTA.
A conductor for a southbound C train that was stopped between 81st and 72nd streets around 9:50 a.m. told passengers to get to get to the ground and take cover, according to the New York Times, which happened to have a reporter on the train at the time.
Officers then searched the train, but did not find the gunman, the Times added.
We will update this story as we get more information.
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Was on the downtown B Train at 72nd. The police were searching the tracks. I ended up walking through Central Park to 59th.
At least it was a beautiful day.
I heard a minimum of eight gunshots form my apartment. I realize that this could happen anywhere, but the audacity of a shooting in broad daylight on the UWS is startling and scary. Someone carrying a firearm shoots another individual with the other shots shooting out the glass at the bus stop across the street and possibly store windows has no fear of repercussions. How many innocent bystanders could have been killed? Politicians please take note and address these issues more seriously.
Our current crop of politicians are in fact the ones who would keep guns out of the hands of ordinary citizens. Their efforts have been vitiated by the judges appointed by the crop of politicians on the other side.
Keep calling the carrying of guns a “right” and you’ll see more, not less, of the phenomenon of arguments between people who know one another being resolved with guns.
Let’s focus our efforts on the legal gun owners. Assuming he was, while we have countless illegal weapons all over the city. This sounds like a great use of time and resources.
Well, actually, when concealed carry was illegal in NYC, any officer who saw that he was carrying could have taken action. Now they can’t, and I am not sure that simply carrying a weapon would be “probable cause” for a search if doing so is not illegal. So, it is not irrational to focus on recent changes in the regulation of gun ownership on the risk to all.
The more the “legal gun owners” running around with their guns, the more times an argument between spouses, or friends, or bosses and employees, or even strangers, will result in shootings.
If you doubt that you ought to look at gun death rates by state and compare NY with states like Florida and Texas.
Perhaps what’s most disturbing is that the police that are positioned outside of Lululemon 24/7 DID NOTHING, even as gun shots rang out and foot traffic came to a halt on that corner because there was a concerned citizen running away from the scene telling everyone to stay back. I’ve heard this unite is there to keep an eye on the migrant shelter and Lululemon, but they literally just lean on the building and are on their phones. All day long. Biggest waste of police resources. They should be by McDonalds, or at the very least, walking around the neighborhood.
I can’t vouch for the 20th precinct but I can for the 24th precinct who has dedicated officers. This is the 20th precinct so perhaps you should go to their community meeting they have each month and let the Commanding Officer know.
Politicians will absolutely not address this. Have they the last 6 months? They avoid even speaking about it because they will have to admit their policies are failing. We all see it and there were plenty of news sources 10 years ago so don’t tell me that this was always happening in our neighborhood. It wasn’t 10 years ago but it is now. Who is in charge for the last 5 years? Any Independents or Republicans? Nope. Only Democrats in our city and state.
I hope they catch him soon and lock him up. Enough already.
Also, where is he now? Off the streets?
Don’t know. There are a lot of helicopters buzzing around at 11:53 (74/Amsterdam).
Haha! What total chaos! What’s going on here on the UWS. ?? Weird/why? This has to stop. I hope they put cameras everywhere! Enough already.
Re: “I hope they put cameras everywhere”: Do you really want to be under surveillance everywhere? As Benjamin Franklin said : “They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety , deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Great point. That we all believe there will be no real repercussions. And this is the state of our city. Used to be a time when felons feared being caught with a gun as that was a direct route to Rikers. Remember when Bill diBlasio’s goal was to end the perception that there were good and bad neighborhoods? Well done.
Remember when the NYPD did regular foot patrols on the streets of the UWS? I do, and De Blasio was mayor.
Meanwhile, we read that the NYPD is becoming increasingly dysfunctional with something like 25% of the officers considering quitting. The interim commission was in a fight with the deputy.
I have been saying it for years. The NYPD post George Floyd riots is night and day different. The people of the city of New York killed their Police Department and I honestly don’t see a way to fix it, The Officers as a group have no love left for the job or the people of NYC. Thousands of people marched in the street attacking Police Officers throwing, bricks injuring officers and NO one was held accountable. Thousands of people marched against the NYPD, Millions of New Yorkers sat by and watched it happen. Many Officers who were on the job then have left but the culture of the Department has changed. It’s just a damn job now. The love is gone.
So sad…
Agree – NYPD is different post George Floyd – they stopped doing their jobs & just started milking overtime. If your feelings are hurt by some protesters, go find a different line of work.
Get to know some of them and you will see that is NOT true. Many are extremely caring and dedicated to their jobs. They have come to our aid over and over and over again and I am thankful that after all the hate they have been exposed to here, they do care.
If nurses or doctors got away with half of the stuff police officers do, you’d be out in the street too. The perception that police are above criticism is toxic and doesn’t belong in a democratic society.
Vote for better candidates.
So tiresome. You know we have a former cop as mayor (which has not gone great…) & places with all GOP government have MORE shootings than in NYC?
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Politics on a local level in NYC is an example.
In my opion.
In short, don’t vote for corrupt ex-cops who prefer to party and get upgraded! And certainly don’t vote for GOP governments from cities with more shootings than NYC!
But still… vote for better candidates!
I don’t care who is in charge, Red or Blue. All that matters is results and we aren’t getting them with who is in charge.
My point exactly.
Sure, our mayor sucks in many ways (I didn’t rank him) but given the state of firearms ownership in this country even the best governed cities are going to have the occasional shooting. So I don’t think its constructive to spam ‘vote better’ on every crime story. If there’s some secret way to halt all crime, we’d all love to hear it.
In Israel and Switzerland a very large proportion of the population has weapons, many automatic rifles, yet crime is a fraction of what it is in the US. In Russia, it is almost impossible to get a carry permit, yet gun and knife crime is through the roof. You end gun ownership in the US, criminals will still carry them, but it will leave law abiding citizens without protection.
@mike: Why is it then that the city with the strictest gun laws in the country (that’s our New York, btw) also has the lowest violent crime rate of any large or mid-sized city in the country? And those cities in states with the most permissive gun laws (think: St. Louis, Birmingham, New Orleans) are among the highest? If legal gun ownership isn’t a problem, why is it that most violent crimes involving firearms are committed with legally obtained guns?
This makes the second shooting in our neighborhood in 8 days! First the Halloween shooting at/near McDonalds and the one this morning. Good grief!
The C train isn’t working in either direction as police search continues.
Two shootings in past few weeks. Is there a point where we should share some concern? Or can continue to find solace in the fact that crime is down from the 1970s?
Nah, it’s all good in the neighborhood.
Keep Telling us so. People are just stupid and they’ll believe you, right?
If someone on the UWS loses it and murders their spouse or boss it’s not a reflection on “the neighborhood.”
Indeed, blaming it on some alleged increase in neighborhood crime totally misses the point.
Carry on then. No crime is preventable….because “someone decided”…
It’s precisely the prevention, the de-incentivization, the punishment, the rehabilitation, the access, the enforcement, the sheer public stance on the next time someone flashes or discharges an illegal weapon in this city. All the domain of politicians, legislators, and law enforcement – elected and unelected.
And no, this wasn’t a person who was hell bent and determined to shoot his boss. If he was, he would have done it in the shop, Not spraying bullets in the street at 9am with witnesses and bystanders in the background. This was a volatile person who had too easy an access to an illegal gun, too lax an attitude toward using it and zero fear or consideration of the consequences- again, precisely the domain of people who keep telling us that all is good.
Perhaps you can explain why you draw a nexus between this crime (or any similar domestic or employment dispute) and this neighborhood?
People who deal with these crimes have a term for what happened here, it’s called “going postal.” It has to do with the reactions of unbalanced people to stresses at work, or at home, or a combination of these, and nothing to do with the town or neighborhood where it happens.
Pretty hard to stop people determined to shoot their boss.
But NYPD foot patrols, which used to be a thing in the West 60s, might stop someone from pulling out a gun on the street.
I was there moments after the shooting. It took a long time for the ambulance to arrive. I want to say at least 15 minutes.
Change of name for the neighborhood
From Upper West Side
To Wild West Side
If anyone is wondering about the shift to the right on Tuesday in NYC; the Democrats’ non response to neighborhood crime might be a good place to start one’s analysis.
This was not “neighborhood crime.” It was one disgruntled idiot seeking revenge. And one too many guns in the wrong hands.
I would be the first to recall DA Alvin Bragg. I voted for Elizabeth Crotty (remember her?) But we have no recall process in NYC for either the mayor or the DA. Here’s something California did better than us.
Ironically, Bragg’s obsession with “getting Trump” probably helped get him reelected…..
The victim is alive. They are both men, the same age. I would expect they know each other and there was a reason for this shooting.
A quick look at the photo accompanying this article reminds me of the painting Nighthawk by Edward Hopper. But the two bare no resemblance at all. Something about the geometry of the photo.
Any updates from the field? NYT says C train was evacuated. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/07/nyregion/nyc-shooting-subway-delays.html
There was a heavy police and EMS presence at the C-B subway stops at least as far north as 86h St., presumably in case the assailant come up from underground. And emails from the city about service interruptions on those lines.
My 3 year old attends school a block away. A classmate’s parent reached out to Rosenthal’s office who said it was an employee/employer dispute that spilled into the street.
It’s comforting to know that somewhere between the $7/cup coffee shops, fancy athleisure stores, and overpriced gyms and nursery schools, there’s an employee with a hidden handgun, ready to pop the entire clip into someone.
They knew each other. Disgruntled employee shot boss.
What are Adams and Bragg doing about all these gun incidents? What is the plan? This area around Lincoln Center is becoming very dangerous.
When will the NYPD return to doing basic foot patrols in the area?
Press conference! Don’t you feel safer already?
Simple solution would be NYC just passing more and tougher gun laws in the same vein as D.C., Chicago, Baltimore and Detroit. That would solve the problem, right?
Not once Clarence Thomas has his say!
Well, you are being sarcastic, but, yes making it harder to obtain guns, delay purchases, decrease volume of guns and ammunition on the streets would obviously decrease gun violence as well.
I’ve done business there. Nice people, and competent. Hope everyone recovers. They do a good job.
People who know one another get into a fight and it happened that one has a gun.
This isn’t about a neighborhood.
More importantly it is about the fact that too many people have guns.
The people here complaining about politicians on the left are ignoring the fact that those ARE the politicians who want to outlaw average people carrying guns and the fact that the politicians they like favor the common person having the right to walk around with a gun.
Poor Salim, good thing his name means Safe and Sound. I told him when he when he first started working half a block away that he had the best corner in the neighborhood. It’s ironic that all the law and order types are the ones who voted for the first convicted felon into the highest office in the country.
No wonder he’s on the lose when they wont even give a description…
Really weird. He was a known to the victim so at this point the police surely have a full name, address (even if old) and from there a picture.
A name and picture would surely speed this up. Getting a guy willing to unload a gun in broad day light off the streets has to be the priority here.
They found him pretty quickly, clearly they didn’t think they needed the public’s help to identify him because he was dumb enough to shoot at his employer
Why are people so rabid?
This shooting story was on last night’s national TV news, as another NYC random crime tale belied by contradictory reported statistics. I hope wherever it ran (to the entire US) provides an update. Turns out an angry, fired worker retaliated. It’s NOT an exclusively NYC story. Could have happened anywhere in gun-crazed America. I am tired of national news orgs coincidental proximity to NYC seeming to drive their coverage, simply because they have film and personnel on scene.
Sounds like a domestic thing, not exactly the sky collapsing like others would have you believe on this website.
This is horrible. Boris and the people that work with him at LBM are kind, helpful, and really good at what they do! I hope they are all OK and that our neighborhood will support them during this difficult time!
There were over 7000 murders during Rudy Giuliani’s regime as mayor.Facts.