Suspect arrested in Coney Island shooting that injured 8, including 4 children: NYPD

He is being charged with multiple counts of attempted murder, police said.

July 8, 2026, 6:57 PM

A suspect is in custody after eight people, including four children, were shot during a Fourth of July family barbecue in Brooklyn's Coney Island, police said Wednesday.

The suspect -- identified as 44-year-old Robert Smith -- is being charged with multiple counts of attempted murder, according to the New York Police Department.

NYPD officers work at the scene after eight people, including four children, were shot in a mass shooting near the intersection of West 30th Street and Surf Avenue in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, July 4, 2026.
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The shooting occurred around 10:37 p.m. on Saturday in the courtyard of a residence at West 30th and Surf Avenue, less than two blocks from Coney Island's famed Riegelmann Boardwalk, when a masked gunman opened fire on the group without warning, police said.

The victims included a 37-year-old man, a 33-year-old man, a 21-year-old woman, a 25-year-old woman and the four children, ages 6, 7, 12 and 14, according to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

NYPD officers work at the scene after eight people, including four children, were shot in a mass shooting near the intersection of West 30th Street and Surf Avenue in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, July 4, 2026.
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Seven of the victims suffered non-life-threatening gunshot wounds while the 21-year-old victim was shot in the chest and was critically injured, Tisch said.

A TEC-9-style firearm equipped with an extended magazine was recovered at the scene, along with 10 discharged shell casings, Tisch said.

The commissioner told reporters Sunday that detectives are investigating whether the shooting is connected to a gang-related homicide that occurred earlier this week on the same block as the mass shooting.

ABC News' Jessica Gorman and Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.

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