{"id":141109,"date":"2026-02-21T17:37:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T17:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/141109\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T17:37:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T17:37:28","slug":"man-gunned-down-at-queens-sports-bar-4th-bloody-attack-at-nyc-nightspot-in-a-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/141109\/","title":{"rendered":"Man gunned down at Queens sports bar; 4th bloody attack at NYC nightspot in a week"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 34-year-old man was shot to death at a Queens sports bar early Saturday \u2014 the fourth bloody attack to take place at a city nightspot<\/a> in a week, officials said.<\/p>\n

Denis Nunez was inside the El Catracho sports bar<\/a> on Jamaica Ave. near 184th Place in Hollis when someone began shooting at around 1:45 a.m.<\/p>\n

Cops said bullets hit Nunez in the stomach and left shoulder. EMS rushed him to Jamaica Hospital, but he could not be saved.<\/p>\n

The gunman ran off and was still being sought by authorities.<\/p>\n

Cops were scouring the area looking for surveillance video that could help them figure out what sparked the shooting and identify the gunman.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s murder was the third shooting to take place in a city bar or nightclub in the last week.<\/p>\n

Cops were scouring the area looking for surveillance video that could help them figure out what sparked the shooting and identify the gunman. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News) Police guard this silver Toyota Tundra pickup truck seen here in the middle of Jamaica Avenue about one block west of El Catracho on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News) Cops said bullets hit Nunez in the stomach and left shoulder. EMS rushed him to Jamaica Hospital, but he could not be saved. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News) Show Caption1 of 4Cops said bullets hit Nunez in the stomach and left shoulder. EMS rushed him to Jamaica Hospital, but he could not be saved. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Two shootings in which three people were wounded as well as a stabbing occurred within a three-hour span on Feb. 14, cops said.<\/p>\n

During one of the shootings, Sheriff Shittu, a 30-year-old aspiring fashion designer, was fatally shot in the head<\/a> after a tussle with a drunk patron who had groped his girlfriend.<\/p>\n

The gunman opened fire inside Quilox Restaurant and Lounge<\/a> in East Flatbush at around 4:25 a.m. that Saturday, cops said.<\/p>\n

Shittu was accompanied to the club by his younger brother, Fawaz Shittu, to celebrate a friend\u2019s birthday a day before their mother was due to arrive for a visit from their native Nigeria.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was screaming his name,\u201d Fawaz said, recalling the aftermath of the shooting that killed his brother. \u201cI was trying to wake him up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheriff got into an altercation with his killer after the stranger started drunkenly touching women, including the victim\u2019s girlfriend, according to Fawaz.<\/p>\n

Turned off by the disturbance, the brothers left the club less than an hour after arriving, he said. They returned minutes later after realizing Sheriff had left his cellphone behind.<\/p>\n

As they returned, the drunk customer was being escorted out, and the club\u2019s owner tried to convince the brothers to stay, Fawaz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe owner was saying, \u2018Don\u2019t mind that person \u2014 he\u2019s a crazy guy\u2019,\u201d Fawaz recounted. \u201cA few seconds later, I heard \u2018pow,\u2019 and I looked down and I saw my brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

Less than three hours earlier, a fight broke out inside Tulum Brooklyn<\/a>, a late-night restaurant and lounge in Bedford-Stuyvesant. During the brawl, a 23-year-old man was stabbed in the armpit with a sharp object, cops said.<\/p>\n

The nightspot was hosting its annual \u201cPink Party\u201d<\/a> at the time the stabbing occurred.<\/p>\n

Just before 2 a.m., a 36-year-old man was shot in the stomach and a 38-year-old man was shot once in each leg during a clash inside El Palenque Hall in Crotona Park East in the Bronx.<\/p>\n

Both men were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries, cops said.<\/p>\n

The NYPD said 2025 was the city\u2019s safest year since the department began keeping modern-day crime stats in 1994<\/a>, with a 20% drop in homicides and a 24% drop in shootings.<\/p>\n