Jamel Andre Childs, 35, tried to cool tempers down at Taste of the City lounge in Crown Heights before the gunfight erupted, friends say.

Within minutes, officers arrived, finding that nine men and three women, ranging in age from 19 to 61, had been shot. Three men died. Marvin St. Louis, 19, was pronounced dead at the scene. Amadou Diallo, 27, and Jamel Childs, 35, were critically wounded and succumbed to their injuries at the hospital.

Taste of the City Lounge, the site of the shooting, is known for its Caribbean dishes and features a hookah bar along with live DJs.

NEW YORK -- Three people are dead and eight others are wounded after a shooting at a New York City lounge early Sunday, police officials said. The shooting happened just before 3:30 a.m. local time inside the Taste of the City lounge in Crown Heights, Brooklyn at 903 Franklin Avenue.

New York City was shaken by a mass shooting in which 11 people were hit, of whom three have died, at a restaurant-cum-lounge

What began as a dispute inside the packed nightclub escalated when multiple gunmen opened fire, unleashing chaos before fleeing into the streets.

The Brooklyn hookah lounge where three people were killed and nine others wounded early Sunday was right at the scene of another shooting less than a year ago.

Around four shooters opened fire at a New York City restaurant early Sunday, resulting in three deaths and eight injuries. According to police, the violence is gang-related.