Cops: Fort Greene Violence Sparked By Chicken Wing Promotion

Off-Duty Officers Shoot Gun-Wielding Men in Queens, Bronx, Brooklyn

Two shootings and a stabbing in Fort Greene yesterday "were the result" of a cheap chicken wing event at a nearby eatery, according to the commanding officer of Brooklyn's 88 Precinct. High school students from across the borough flocked to a 40-cent wing promotion at Buffalo Wild Wings on Atlantic Avenue — then things got dicey. Here's how NYPD Captain Anthony Tasso described the crimes to the Times blog The Local:

"There were two shooting incidents last night, one on Fulton Street in which two teenagers were shot, neither life threatening, and one incident on Flatbush and Fulton Street, also non-life-threatening. There was also a stabbing in the vicinity of the Atlantic Center Mall. All incidents, although not directly related, were the result of a promotion for all high school kids from several schools throughout the borough to meet at Buffalo Wild Wings for a 40-cent wing promotion. (No school today.) Although there was a huge police presence at the mall to address the condition and turn the thousands of students away and send them back home, apparently a few rogue groups managed to cause trouble while heading home."

A Times web producer who was having dinner at an outdoor cafe on South Portland Avenue near Fulton Street at around 8:20 pm witnessed the aftermath of one of the shootings, in which two young men were wounded:

"Two shots were fired. We heard the shots but didn’t think much of it at first (they were loud, but didn’t seem particularly like guns; we initially both thought to ourselves that it was a truck or Dumpster or something). About 30 to 45 seconds later we noticed a commotion among a large group of teenagers at the corner and heard people yelling that someone had been shot...It wasn’t clear from whom or where the shots came. Some bystanders commented that it could have been a drive-by, since there didn’t seem to be a big chase after any perpetrator (as one might expect with a group of teens walking down the street), and because the victims lay 30 feet apart. But the shots were in quick succession, separated by no more than a second, and less if my memory serves me right."

We've contacted police to determine the severity of injuries and if any arrests were made.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Ben Muessig in News on November 11, 2009 12:35 PM

Comments [rss]

the3rdbridge

This factual event is racist.

the3rdbridge

Dude, I guess someone popped off.

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/04/invitro_meat

nyactorgirl

40-cent wings at BWW...oh hell no!! Where's my nine??!!

Think2wice

Them crack babies grow up so fast.

Kojak

They obviously never heard of 20 Cent wings at 1849.

Gemini Lounge

Freakin' aminals.

carbomb

black friday at Walmart?

Bike Rider

lol blax

Anna_Merkin

Beefing over chicken wings?

I shouldn't feel responsibility for the behavior of all black people, but this is embarrassing. What's next, watermelon riots? These little bastards should be beaten then put to work.

ProcedureTurn

Chicken deals seem to cause a lot of problems for some ppl...

See here:

Popeye's runs out of fried chicken

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pyW6w5B7Aw

.

ProcedureTurn

...wow. even Mcdonalds has some angry customers over CHICKEN!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ctlte7HZf8

Guy goes beserk over his chicken order.

WTF??

ProcedureTurn

come to think of it... didnt some riots break out over the KFC promotion too?

What is it about CHICKEN that makes people fight?

Tower18

Is this something special? Buffalo Wild Wings all over the country do this on Tuesday nights...somehow it never turns into a fiasco, much less a crime scene. That said, I would never have taken advantage of this promotion at the Atlantic Center location, even before this incident, because everything in that place is below-par, bordering on scary, on a normal day.

ilovejapgirls

where was 50 cent in all this

NannyState

Getting a dime back in change.

grizzzly

oww.

MKenrich

Can you really blame BWW for promoting a buffalo wings special like any other establishment would? It's not like their slogan was "Tuesday night 40 cent wings special to shoot and kill for!" When big groups congregate especially at that age, something always goes down. Sadly these days it's not about who is better at fighting but more on who is more trigger happy. We've all gone through this before just sadly now the availability of guns makes it so much more dangerous. I don't see the promotion is at fault here.

wingedearth

It appears the rumors of Fort Greene's gentrification have been somewhat exaggerated.

Or maybe people were pissed off that the wings weren't authentic Buffalo style. Hard to find decent wings in this town (or anywhere outside of Western New York).

ed_Extinct

who showed up to the gun fight with a chicken wing?

whitecastlerock

Boycott Buffalo Wild Wings for the promotion-clearly it is their fault...

wac0202

Alright, fine, I'll bite (no pun intended). Why is the cop and blogs like brownstoner concluding that the promotion somehow led to the violence?

valeriob

Gothamist is just winging it with posts from Ben.

farleft

Keep fuckin' that chicken.

wac0202

ok, but I was serious, why is everyone emphasizing the meeting spot? not like that caused the violence, which was actually fairly widespread at a time in the evening with a lot of people out and about.

JenChungsBaby

Because they don't want to emphasize race. It's code.

valeriob

Finally we can get down to the meat of this post.

NannyState

What little there is after that bare bones report...

wac0202

ha. saucy, but I like it.

NannyState

I guess somebody needed more dipping sauce...

hotstepper

oniony.

HBHB

"High school students from across the borough flocked to a 40-cent wing promotion" keep taking those steps back, back, back...

felixthecat2

Violence begets violence.

Violence

valeriob

But Violence is so Violence Delicious Violence

Link

felixthecat2

Violence is never justified. Racist troll

imadick

racist? against chickens? i dont get it

Guest

It's worth it to come on here to make myself feel better about everything in my life by reading the crap that flows from your fingers, felix. Thank you for being a complete and total dipshit.

valeriob

I wonder if the same would result if a tanning salon in Staten Island had a 75% off sale during a school holiday.

amsci

Or on eyebrow waxing (men only).

Boogie Down

...in the Bronx.

Bernie Madoff-Goetz

Softball post. I'm not swinging.

Wza

hahaha!

pinball29

Perfect way to clean out the gene pool. Make them a penny, and hope the thugs all kill each other. Oh, except the 'nice kids'.

valeriob

...

Spirit of 76

They went nuts over 40¢ wings? Boy, times have changed. I used to enjoy 10¢ wing specials back in the 80s. Just barely missed downing 80 of those once. Worth it at 10¢, but not at 4x that. I'm not paying $32.

Outter Burrougher

they've been doing this forever: http://www.croxley.com/man_main.html

also, best wings i've had in the city

Boogie Down

Croxley used to give away free wings during happy hour. The wings and beer are alright, but the service is absolutely stupid.

Spirit of 76

I've got to check that out. And if it works out and I get fat, I hate you.

ckl

world is topsy-turvy

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/business/economy/13wings.html

Spirit of 76

I'm not surprised. If you think about it, it makes a little bit of sense. One chicken can produce a fair amount of breast meat, but only four tiny wing sections. Every time I see the price of a 5 lb bag of frozen wings at the supermarket, I'm shocked. And I have to agree with the people in the article. "Boneless wings" made from breast are rather tasteless and lack texture. The crisp skin on wings is the best part. Okay, they're 100 calories per wing, so I ate about 8000 calories during that one sitting, but as long as you don't do that every day, you should be okay.