By Elise Harmon, news editor

A well-trafficked section of Huntington Avenue was roped off by police tape on Tuesday after a man was shot in front of Boston House of Pizza at roughly 4:30 p.m.

The victim of the shooting, whose name has not been released, was transported to Brigham and Women’s Hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, according to a statement from Boston Police Department (BPD) Officer Rachel McGuire.

“I was like four feet in front of him,” Felicia Bernardo, a sophomore political science major, said. “I heard a few really loud shots and I ducked behind a car and I ran a little bit into [Symphony Cleaners and Tailors].”

Northeastern University sent an NU Alert at 4:48 p.m. notifying students of the incident and warning them to stay away from the area due to police activity.

BPD officers blocked off a section of Huntington Avenue from Temptations Cafe to Huntington Wine and Spirits, forcing pedestrians to turn back and cross to the YMCA side of the street.

“We were working normally – we had music going,” Manuel Hernandez, an Amelia’s Taqueria employee, said. “We only noticed [something had happened] when we saw people running outside and police.”

Officers took photographs of the scene, made measurements and interviewed witnesses.

Karnee Berejiklian, a sophomore health sciences major, lives nearby.

“So I was just looking out my window and I heard a really loud sound and it sounded like a gunshot,” she said. “Then I heard two more and I just wanted to know what it was.”

According to the BPD statement, witnesses described two suspects fleeing the scene on down Huntington Avenue in the direction of Symphony Hall.

“One was a black male wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and a second was a black male wearing [a] white, beige or gray hoodie and jeans,” McGuire said.

Officers took down the yellow and red crime scene tape at 6:20 p.m., allowing pedestrians to access the sidewalk and stranded motorists to access their cars.

In a statement sent out at 6:25 p.m., Northeastern informed the university community that neither the victim nor the suspects seemed to have any connection to the university.

According to the BPD statement, the shots were fired in the area of 307 Huntington Ave., the site of Coolidge House, which has been a halfway house since 1973.

“Investigators do not believe this was a random incident and are looking into the possibility that it was gang related,” McGuire said.

Photo by Scotty Schenck