A 20-year-old woman is dead after she was shot in the head on the Upper East Side Wednesday night, according to police.
The woman was walking with her three-month-old baby girl in a stroller when she was shot on East 95th Street and Lexington Avenue, the NYPD said.
On Thursday, police identified the woman as Azsia Johnson.
Police have not yet detailed the relationship between Johnson and the shooter, and no arrests have been made, but a person of interest connected to Johnson is being sought, police said Thursday.
“We strongly believe it was not a random shooting, that the victim was targeted, and the police department is still conducting an ongoing investigation," Mayor Eric Adams said Thursday. "And we’re going to catch this person that’s responsible for this action. And the exact location of the child, we don’t want to put out right now, but we are in communication with family members.”
EMS transported Johnson to the Metropolitan Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a press conference Wednesday evening.
"An unknown person approached her and fired a single shot into her head from a very close range," Sewell said. "Immediately after the shooting, the suspect fled the scene on foot."
Sewell described the suspect as a man wearing all black.
Adams arrived on the scene of the shooting shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday night.
"This entire day, we've been addressing the problem of the overproliferation of guns on our streets," Adams said at the press conference, referencing events he held earlier in the day with Attorney General Letitia James on so-called "ghost guns" and with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on gun trafficking. "There is just no fear in using these guns on innocent New Yorkers."
Adams blamed criminal justice reforms and restraints on law enforcement for the rise in gun crimes, calling on the state and federal government to give the city more tools to take on gun violence.