Gramercy Park Hotel Guests Arrested for Hoarding BB Guns in Their Room, Police Say

GRAMERCY PARK, NY — At least four people hoarding a total of six BB guns in their Gramercy Park Hotel room were arrested by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) late Tuesday after cops responded to a report of "somebody with a firearm" inside the luxury boutique hotel, a police spokesman said.

City streets surrounding the hotel, located at 2 Lexington Avenue near East 21st Street, were cordoned off Tuesday between around 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. as swarms of cops showed up to investigate, according to Twitter user @Zain_Verjee.

The witness uploaded two videos of suspects being whisked away in NYPD cruisers:

"A bunch of people were arrested for having BB guns at the location," a police spokesman told Patch around 7 p.m.

"Our units went into the hotel room and we found multiple individuals inside with six BB guns," the spokesman said. He did not provide the exact type of crime they were arrested for; however, BB guns do require a permit to carry in New York State.

Anonymous police sources told DNAinfo that the suspects had been streaming a video of themselves with the guns via Facebook Live, prompting someone to call the police. After a brief standoff, DNAinfo reported, officers in bulletproof vests with NYPD dogs took four men and one woman into custody, and confiscated four BB guns and drug paraphernalia from the room.

An employee at the Gramercy Park Hotel, reached on the hotel's main phone line around 6 p.m. Tuesday, would say only: "We're dealing with a guest issue." He did not sound particularly panicked.

At least one ambulance waited on the street outside the hotel, just in case, according to the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY).

Multiple Twitter users described a chaotic scene surrounding the hotel Tuesday night.