On the early evening of September 12, 2020, the quiet residential stretch of 78th Street near 12th Avenue in Dyker Heights was jolted by gunfire, and Arfan Butt, a 33-year-old man described in Urdu-language community reporting as Pakistani, was left bleeding beside his BMW as neighbors tried to understand how something so violent could unfold so suddenly on their block.
Police were called to the area around 5:20–5:30 p.m., and when officers arrived they found Butt down on the ground with gunshot wounds to his torso. In the immediate confusion, witnesses described hearing what sounded like fireworks before realizing it was gunshots, and one neighbor said he looked up to see two cars backing down the street. Butt was rushed to Maimonides Medical Center, but he did not survive.
Early accounts from investigators and sources familiar with the case painted the shooting as a tight, close-range attack that began inside the vehicle. Butt had been in the car with others moments before the shots; then, the suspects got out and opened fire, leaving him mortally wounded. As quickly as it began, it was over—after the gunfire, the perpetrators escaped, with reports indicating a Mercedes-Benz pulled up and served as the getaway vehicle as they fled the scene.
Weeks later, detectives publicly sharpened the picture of what they believed happened and who they were looking for. According to an NYPD account reported in November 2020, Butt had been riding in the backseat of his car as it was driven to 1222 78th Street by an unidentified man; that driver parked, opened the door, and stepped out. A second unidentified man—also in the backseat—allegedly shot Butt several times in the torso before running from the car, and both men fled into a waiting gold four-door Mercedes-Benz driven by a third person. Investigators said the Mercedes was later captured on security cameras traveling westbound on the Verrazzano Bridge, suggesting a rapid escape route out of Brooklyn.
Police released clothing descriptions tied to the three suspects they were trying to identify: one was last seen wearing a dark-colored baseball hat and mask, a white shirt, blue shorts, and white shoes; another was last seen wearing a black baseball hat and mask, a black shirt, dark-colored pants, and black shoes; and the driver of the Mercedes was last seen wearing a red shirt. As of the reports from September 2020 through the later police update in November 2020, no arrests had been announced and investigators had not publicly identified a motive, leaving the case hanging in the air—an ambush in broad daylight with the suspects still unnamed.
