Brooklyn man charged in August mass shooting at Crown Heights hookah bar
A man who prosecutors say was one of several people who opened fire in a fatal mass shooting at a Brooklyn hookah lounge has been charged by federal authorities, officials said Wednesday.
Elijah Roy, of Brooklyn, was charged with assault in aid of racketeering and a federal weapons charge, prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York said in a statement. The weapons charge applies when a person with a felony conviction is caught in possession of ammunition.
Roy's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Roy was arrested on Sept. 18 in North Carolina and is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.
Prosecutors say the Aug. 17 shooting, which killed three people and injured 11 others at a lounge in Crown Heights, was touched off by a dispute between members of rival Brooklyn street gangs.
At about 3 a.m. on the night of the shooting, Roy and other alleged members of his gang began shooting at rivals, who returned fire, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday.
“It is my hope that this arrest will give some comfort to the victims’ loved ones and the traumatized survivors of this heinous crime,” Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.
