GURGAON: At 9. 50pm on Thursday, Sushant Lok was winding down for the night. Families had finished dinner, walkers were taking their last rounds, and the lanes of one of the city’s most affluent neighbourhoods were settling into silence.Then came the burst of deafening cracks.For a few seconds, many residents thought someone was bursting firecrackers. The sounds came in rapid succession, echoing between the bungalows and apartment towers. But within moments, the colony realised something was terribly wrong.A guard standing barely metres from the spot where the firing began captured the chaos on his phone. The video has gunshots ringing out repeatedly as a woman is heard shouting at people strolling in the lane to get inside and take cover.“I ran towards the sound at first. Then I saw bullets flying thick and fast. I somehow managed to save myself and ran in the opposite direction. It took me several minutes to understand what was happening,” the guard told TOI.The shooting took place in A Block of Sushant Lok, just behind Essel Tower and a short walk from MG Road metro station.According to police, five armed men arrived in a black Scorpio and opened fire at a businessman’s house in an alleged extortion-linked attack. Crime branch teams that had already been deployed nearby moved in, triggering a fierce exchange of fire that lasted barely two minutes.As the gunfire intensified, blue police beacons appeared at the entrance of the lane and barricades went up within minutes.“The encounter happened right behind our society, near the rear gate. Our first priority was the safety of residents. As soon as we realised shots were being fired, we instructed security staff not to allow anyone outside. During such situations, there is always the risk of stray bullets. We locked the gates and waited until the situation had completely calmed down,” said Rajeev Sinha, president of Essel Tower RWA.Residents living in the same lane agreed that the first few moments felt surreal. “I stepped into my first-floor verandah because I thought someone was bursting crackers. I saw some smoke and haze, but I still didn’t realise it was gunfire. Something didn’t feel right, so I immediately went back inside. Later, we learnt those were actual gunshots,” a resident said, requesting not to be identified.Another resident, who has lived in Sushant Lok for more than two decades, said the colony reacted instinctively.“Most families switched off their lights and stayed indoors. There wasn’t widespread panic, but nobody wanted to step out. This is the first time I have seen something of this scale happen so close to home. It felt like a scene from a movie – except it was happening outside our doors,” he added.The businessman’s house that was targeted shares its rear boundary wall with Essel Tower. Residents said the sound of bullets striking walls and window panes was clearly audible from nearby homes.By the time the firing stopped, four of the shooters had been killed, a fifth was critically injured, and three crime branch personnel had suffered bullet wounds.Police later recovered pistols, ammunition and the bullet-riddled SUV used in the attack. Long after the barricades had been removed, the lane remained unusually quiet.Residents gathered in small groups, replaying the night’s events and comparing what they had heard, seen and recorded.Several CCTV cameras installed in the area captured parts of the encounter, and some residents said police later collected footage from nearby homes.
