Man charged for role in Brooklyn bar shoot-out that killed three; video shows chaotic scene

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NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors have charged a man they say played a role in a gang-related shooting that broke out in a crowded Brooklyn bar this summer, leaving three dead and 10 others injured.

For the first time Wednesday, prosecutors also released security camera footage of the chaotic gunfight, which unfolded Aug. 17 inside the Taste of City Lounge in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn.

The video showed patrons scrambling for cover as bullets ricocheted across the densely-packed club, with at least 40 shots fired from five guns, prosecutors said.

Among the shooters was Elijah Roy, a 25-year-old gang member who arrived at the club with several associates, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday.

At around 3:30 a.m., one of those associates, Marvin St. Louis, 19, began taunting a rival gang member, Jamel Childs, 35, authorities said. The confrontation quickly escalated with, authorities said, St. Louis shooting at Childs, who returned fire. Both St. Louis and St. Louis were killed in the shoot-out, as was another man, 27-year-old Amadou Diallo, who is believed to have been a bystander.

After ducking under a table, Roy fired two shots, according to prosecutors. It was unclear if those shots hit anyone. He is accused of violent assault in aid of racketeering and illegal possession of ammunition.

Mehdi Essmidi, an attorney for Roy, did not respond to a voice message.

Prosecutors described Roy and St. Louis as members of the 5-9 Brims, a subset of the Bloods. They said Childs was part of a rival gang, the Folk Nation Gangster Disciples.

Roy was arrested last week in North Carolina, carrying $7,000 in cash, according to the criminal complaint. He was arraigned Wednesday afternoon and ordered held without bail.

New York City has seen a year of record-low gun violence, with the fewest number of shootings and shooting victims recorded across the city during the first nine months of 2025, according to police.

At a vigil held for the victims in August, Mayor Eric Adams said that “what happened in the Taste of the City is not a reflection of our city.”