On June 10, 2021, Byron Morales, 25, of Brooklyn, was shot and killed shortly after midnight outside the Dream Hotel in Chelsea. He was found wounded at the hotel after what police describe as a dispute that began after he left the nearby Tao Downtown Restaurant. Morales suffered a gunshot wound to his torso and died after being taken to Lenox Hill Hospital.

Witnesses described the shooter as a light-skinned Black man in his 20s who fled the scene in a white Jeep Cherokee with several others. On June 14, 2021, police arrested 26-year-old Robert Johnson of West Babylon and charged him with murder, assault, and criminal possession of a firearm. Motive remains unclear; investigators have considered a possible gang connection, noting Morales was known to be an associate of the Outlaws gang.

If anyone saw the area outside the Dream Hotel that night or has information about the white Jeep Cherokee, please come forward.