Shooting Near NYC's Penn Station Kills 1

UPDATE, Wednesday: Police believe a drug dealer from Long Island served as an accomplice in the shooting.

Three men were shot in Midtown Manhattan early Monday morning, just after 6 a.m., when gunfire erupted at 35th Street and 8th Avenue near Penn Station, according to the NYPD.

A 43-year-old man was killed and two more were injured, one critically, in the attack, police told Patch.

The gunman was still on the loose in the hours following the fatal shooting.

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Photos from the scene showed traffic at a standstill and the subway stairs at 35th and 8th blocked off.

Subway service, however, was apparently unaffected.

“We understand that the gunman got away, at least for now,” a Fox News reporter said on air. “But police are on the scene, and they are using all their resources to try to find out who this person is.”

NYPD officials said at a morning news conference that the shooter opened fire underground — inside the A/C/E subway station — following some type of argument with the victim(s)

The argument reportedly began at a nearby McDonald’s with a seedy reputation, then spilled out onto the sidewalk and down into the subway station, where shots were fired.

“Just talked to 1 man who claims to know man fatally shot this AM inside the ACE subway stop 35th/8th,” Fox reporter Teresa Priolo wrote on Twitter. “Says friend was a good man.”

Another reported friend of the victim told DNAinfo: “He was a good guy, real goodhearted. He had a 13-year-old son. He was a real good father.”

The 43-year-old man who was killed was shot in the neck, according to the NYPD.

A second victim, 45, was shot in the neck and stomach and transported to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition, police said. A third victim, 48, was shot in the leg and transported to Bellevue in stable condition.

The victims may have been members of a methadone program at the nearby West Midtown Medical Group, according to ABC News.

From the ABC report:

Two men who attend a nearby methadone program at the West Midtown Medical Group said they knew two of the victims, one who was killed and one who was injured. They said both victims came to the clinic for years.

Neither witnessed the shooting.

“This kind of thing doesn’t happen over here,” said Michael Gessow, 39, of the Bronx, who said he has been coming to the clinic for 10 years. “There’s a group of us here that don’t let things like this go down here. They were real nice guys, straight guys. I can’t believe it.”

Richard Buckley, 59, of Queens, who has been coming to the clinic for 14 years, said: “I have never seen anything like this happen. ... This is terrible.”

NYPD detectives were reportedly interviewing potential witnesses Monday morning at a McDonald’s near the subway stop at 35th and 8th. A cane was spotted resting at the top of the subway stairs.