The fatal victim in Sunday’s strip club shooting in Midtown was apparently killed after getting into an altercation with the gunman upon entering the location, police said Tuesday.
According to sources familiar with the investigation, 32-year-old Steven Mussington of Harlem and a friend were spending the night out on the town when they heard about Moxy Fitness and Pole Training Studio, located at 355 7th Ave, a space that is rented overnight as a strip club. Mussington looked to spend the early hours of Oct. 15 at the topless bar, however, he never made it inside.
Investigators believe Mussington got into some kind of argument at the entrance with two unknown men before climbing the narrow staircase to the shady hangout at around 5:30 a.m. when he was apparently followed.
“He walks up the long flight of stairs; when he gets to the top he is shot in the back of the head,” Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.
Mussington was left slumped over at the top of the staircase as terrified half-naked dancers fled the club into the early morning and scrambled to get dressed, leaving stilettos in their wake. EMS pronounced Mussington dead at the scene. A shell casing was discovered in the stairwell.
This isn’t the first time a shooting has been connected to that club. On Sept. 11, several shots were fired at the location, but no one was hit.
Several individuals attempted to conceal their faces on Sunday morning as they left the seedy joint and were taken in for questioning by police. Still, no arrests have been made and the investigation remains ongoing.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips.
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