A 5-year-old girl is recovering after being hit by a bullet after shots were fired in the Williamsbridge section of the Bronx on Friday night, according to the NYPD.
Police say the shooting happened at around 7 p.m. near the intersection of East 214th Street and Holland Avenue. The child was sitting inside her dad’s car when suspects opened fired. It is currently unclear who the unidentified suspects were shooting at, but one of their bullets struck the little girl in the back.
“I thought it was firecrackers,” neighbor Peter Garcia said. “But when I looked out the window, I see like three cars flying. I already knew, like, oh my God, somebody must have got shot. And then like 20 minutes later, I heard a little girl got shot. Oh, I got kids. My heart dropped when I heard it. So it’s like I was thinking of my daughter. My daughter was literally up the block, so I ran to go pick up my kids. So it is very scary.”
Neighbors say a memorial was taking place at the time of the shooting. The gathering was in honor of a man who was recently shot and killed nearby.
It is currently unclear if the girl who was shot was in the area for that memorial.
Police say the girl was taken to Montefiore Medical Center in critical condition. She underwent surgery and is expected to survive.
“Oh my gosh. I can only imagine what the parents is feeling,” Santashia Thompson said as she walked past the location. “I go to work at 12. So just walking in the neighborhood, you want to be secure.”
As of Saturday morning, no arrests had been made in either shooting.