One killed, three hurt by moped riding gunman in NYC

A man riding a moped went on a shooting spree on Saturday that killed one person and injured three others in New York City. The police said that a suspect is in custody.

According to police, the seemingly random attacks in Brooklyn and Queens began at 11:10am and came to an end exactly two hours later when a suspect was apprehended in the latter borough.

New York Police First Deputy Commissioner Edward Caban revealed at a news conference that the man was identified by police as a 25-year-old with a prior arrest and in possession of a 9mm semiautomatic handgun with an extended magazine and an "illegal" scooter without plates.

Detectives have not received any responses from the suspect, who appears to have emotional or mental problems, according to police sources. However, it is unclear if he has undergone a mental health professional's evaluation, NBC reported.

At the press conference, Assistant Chief Joseph Kenny described the first attack victim as a 21-year-old man who had been shot from behind in Brooklyn and was expected to survive.

Seventeen minutes later, an 87-year-old man was shot in the back roughly three miles away in Queens, police said. He was taken urgently to a hospital, where he allegedly passed away.

"The perpetrator was described as a male on a scooter firing at a nail salon on Jamaica Avenue," Kenny said.

Police reported that a shot was fired at the same or a nearby location in a different attack, but no one was hurt. "Numerous witnesses described the male on a scooter randomly firing at a group of people that was standing on the corner," the assistant chief said.

A 44-year-old man was shot in the face less than a mile away, in the same neighbourhood of Queens. He was admitted to the hospital in critical condition.

At 11:37am, a 63-year-old victim was shot in the shoulder, according to police, and was reportedly stabilised later at a hospital.

They claimed that there were four shell casings at the scene, and several 9-mm shell casings were also recovered in other scenes.

"A blurry security camera image of a suspect on a scooter was sent to every cop in the street," Kenny said.

According to NBC, the image was distributed to the police as part of a system that will alarm their devices until they acknowledge seeing it.

The 25-year-old suspect was apprehended by police at 1:10pm, roughly 10 blocks from the most recent attack, after they recognised him from the security photo, according to the police.

Over 90 minutes had passed since the last shooting, but it was unclear what the suspect had been up to.

Detectives are looking into the gun's history and the possibility that it is a ghost gun, a term for weapons that can be 3D printed from composite material and used without necessary serial numbers or standard background checks.

The biggest mystery seemed to be the motive.

"At this time, we don't know the motive," Kenny said. "It seems that it's actually random if you look at the demographics and pedigree of the victims. They're all different at this time."

The non-profit Everytown, suggests random shootings are less frequent than thought and calls for evidence-based gun regulation. Mass shootings in the US are defined as those involving at least four people, with the attacker being a partner, ex-partner, or relative.

The Gun Violence Archive, which tracks mass shootings in the United States, counts the violence from Saturday morning in New York as a mass shooting. According to the archive, since the year's start, there have been more than 360 mass shootings that meet that definition.