A five-year-old girl had a close call in the Bronx on Wednesday evening after a stray bullet grazed the side of her head as she walked along the sidewalk with her mother.
Photo by Dean Moses
A third teen has been cuffed for a brazen Bronx shooting earlier this year that left a 5-year-old girl injured as she held hands with her mother.
According to police sources, the final suspect wanted in the near-deadly shooting was arrested on Sunday in the confines of the 41st Precinct.
The 17-year-old boy, who authorities have not named due to his age, has been hit with attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and reckless endangerment charges. He now joins a 16-year-old boy who was cuffed on May 21 and a 15-year-old boy who was arrested on May 15. These youngsters were also charged with attempted murder.
Police said the shocking incident took place at around 5:25 p.m. on May 13 outside of a bodega located at 1007 Southern Blvd. in Longwood. Cops say the three teens brandished firearms and began opening fire at least six times.
One of the bullets struck the child across her right ear, while another bullet shattered the glass door at the Gourmet Deli and Juice Bar.
A five-year-old girl had a close call in the Bronx on Wednesday evening after a stray bullet grazed the side of her head as she walked along the sidewalk with her mother.Photo by Dean Moses
“My daughter, she’s screaming. I never heard a scream like that,” the mother told ABC7. “Then she grabs her ear, and her hand was full of blood. I’m just happy that my baby’s here. It could have been worse.”
The girl was rushed to Harlem Hospital and listed in stable condition.
“I heard the shots , and I laid right down,” said 25-year-old Hamood Ahmed, a clerk at Gourmet Deli & Juice Bar hours after the incident.
“They were shooting from one side to the other side,” he added. “A bullet went through the glass in the door. … I was scared. I’m just glad I’m alive.”
Police do not believe that the child was the intended target, but instead the victim caught in the crossfire of gang violence.