A 29-year-old Queens Village man was shot inside a Kew Gardens bar early Tuesday and later died at a hospital.
KEW GARDENS, NY — Police in Queens are searching for two masked suspects after a 29-year-old man was shot inside a bar on Metropolitan Avenue just after 1:30 a.m. Tuesday and later died at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, authorities said.
The killing turned an early-morning disturbance inside a neighborhood bar into a homicide investigation now centered on who fired the shot, what started the confrontation and whether the victim was targeted. Police identified the man who died as Demitri McKay of Queens Village. By Wednesday morning, no arrests had been announced, and detectives were still trying to piece together the moments before the shooting and track the two men seen leaving the area.
Officers were sent to Hangar 11 on Metropolitan Avenue at about 1:35 a.m. for what police initially described as an assault call. When they arrived, they found McKay with a gunshot wound to his left arm, according to authorities. He was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Police have said the shot struck his arm and then traveled into his heart. Residents living near the bar told local television reporters they were jolted awake by a loud argument, then heard gunfire and saw people rush out in panic. That sequence has become a key part of the timeline as detectives work to determine whether the gunfire followed a fight inside the bar, spilled over from a dispute near the entrance, or was tied to some earlier contact among the people involved.
Investigators say two male suspects fled after the shooting, and police have released limited descriptions as they continue canvassing the area. Early reports described one suspect as wearing a dark or black Nike tracksuit, while another was described as wearing a pink hooded sweatshirt or pink Nike tracksuit. Both were reported to be masked. Police have not publicly said whether either suspect was carrying the weapon when he ran, how many shots were fired, or whether surveillance video clearly captured the gunfire itself. Another unresolved question is McKay’s role inside the business. Police have said it was not yet clear whether he was working there or was at the bar as a patron. Detectives also found a gun on the street about a block from the bar, according to local reporting, but authorities have not publicly confirmed whether that weapon was the one used in the shooting or whether forensic testing has tied it to the case.
The location sits on a busy stretch of Metropolitan Avenue in Kew Gardens, an area where restaurants, bars and apartment buildings operate close together and late-night activity can spill quickly onto the sidewalk. That setting helps explain why neighbors became early witnesses to the aftermath even if they did not see the shooting itself. In cases like this, investigators often rely on a mix of street cameras, private business footage, witness interviews and ballistics work to sort out conflicting accounts from a crowded scene. For now, police have released only the basic facts: a man was shot inside the bar, he died at the hospital, and two suspects ran. They have not publicly described a motive, disclosed whether McKay knew the men being sought, or said whether the shooting appears to have grown out of a personal dispute. Those unanswered questions matter because they shape whether detectives treat the case as an isolated confrontation or part of a broader pattern involving known associates.
Procedurally, the case remains in the investigative stage, with no charges filed as of Wednesday, March 25. That means homicide detectives are still working to identify the suspects by name, confirm the chain of events inside the bar and test physical evidence recovered near the scene. The next major developments are likely to come when police either release fuller suspect descriptions, publish images from surveillance footage or announce an arrest. If detectives recover usable video, that could also sharpen the timeline by showing who entered with McKay, where the suspects were standing before the shooting and how they escaped. Once a suspect is identified and taken into custody, prosecutors would decide what charges fit the evidence, which could range from murder and weapons counts to related offenses depending on what investigators conclude about intent and planning. Until then, the public record remains thin, and the case is still defined more by what police are trying to learn than by what they have proved.
Outside the bar, the scene after daybreak carried the familiar marks of a New York City homicide investigation: shaken neighbors, scattered details, and a block trying to understand how a single shot turned fatal. McKay’s family declined to speak publicly in the immediate aftermath and said they were mourning his loss. Their silence left the focus on police and on neighbors who described the sound of a quarrel breaking the quiet before dawn. One resident said the argument was loud enough to wake people nearby. Another described seeing a crowd surge out after the gunfire. Those brief accounts do not explain why McKay was shot, but they add human detail to an investigation otherwise built on fragments — a 911 call, a wounded man on the floor, two masked figures running away, and a neighborhood left waiting for police to say who they are looking for and what happened inside in the minutes before the shot was fired.
The case stood Wednesday without an arrest, with detectives still searching for two suspects and trying to determine what led to McKay’s death. The next milestone is expected to be either the release of surveillance images or a police announcement identifying the men sought in the shooting.
Author note: Last updated March 25, 2026.