Four People, Including a 5-Year-Old Boy, Are Shot and Killed in Queens

NEW YORK — Four people, among them a 5-year-old boy, were shot and killed at a small apartment building in Queens on Monday night in what investigators believe may have been a murder-suicide, the police said.

The shooting drew a herd of police cars and ambulances to a tree-lined residential block in Astoria and sent detectives scrambling to learn if a suspect was on the loose.

The police were called to the apartment building around 9 p.m. after a man was found in the backyard with a gunshot wound and a slashed throat, the police said.

He was pronounced dead, as were two women and the 5-year-old who had been found shot in the building, the police said.

Investigators found a gun at the scene and a shattered glass door, and soon heavily armed officers swarmed the four-story brick building and searched behind it. A police helicopter shined a spotlight from overhead.

The police did not immediately name those who had been killed or offer any details about a motive, but they said late Monday that they had tentatively identified one victim. The police also said they were still trying to determine whether the dead were members of the same family.

Investigators were leaning toward the theory that it was a murder-suicide but by late Monday were still working to rule out other possibilities, a police official said.

The shooting upended a quiet night on a block that is hidden between two bustling avenues. None of the buildings on the block are taller than five stories, and most are three. Several of them are decked out for holidays from St. Patrick’s Day to Christmas.

Neighbors said they had no idea anything was amiss until police cars and ambulances screeched onto their corner. Several people said they saw a police officer walking away from the scene sobbing.

“I got off the bus and saw an ambulance right here on the corner and thought ‘Oh someone’s had a heart attack,'” said William Fulton, 63, who lives about a block from the crime scene. “But then, all of a sudden, shortly after, nine police cars and other ambulances are showing up like crazy.”