(Photos: Tomas E. Gaston)
LOVE: Amanda Chauan gets a hug from dad Gustavo (inset) outside the hospital yesterday before hopping in their car. (Tomas E. Gaston (2))
A Bronx dad had the best Father’s Day of his life yesterday when his 9-year-old daughter, who was wounded by a stray bullet while playing outside Friday, was released from the hospital.
Amanda Chauan left Jacobi Medical Center flanked by her happy mom and dad, who carried a string of big multicolored balloons, including a Barbie one, for the girl.
“She’s doing good,” said the dad, Gustavo Chauan, who planted a kiss on Amanda’s forehead after her release. “She’s going to be fine.”
Gustavo had spent the night in the hospital so he and his little girl could wake up and celebrate Father’s Day together.
“It was nice seeing my dad for Father’s Day,’’ Amanda told The Post after she got back home.
But, she added, “I feel nervous” about returning.
“My little brother is worse. He doesn’t even want to come outside,’’ the girl said.
Amanda, an energetic third-grader who loves basketball, had been playing with her brother in a parking lot near Bailey Avenue and West 234th Street near their Kingsbridge home at 9:30 p.m. Friday when a man riding a bicycle fired six shots into the crowd near them.
One of the rounds grazed her stomach, seriously wounding her.
The girl stumbled into the lobby of her building — where neighbors had already ducked for cover — and collapsed, residents recalled.
Her little brother wasn’t wounded.
Amanda’s mother, Magaly Cintron, said she herself keeps playing the shooting over and over in her head.
“I heard the gunshots from my apartment, and I ran down downstairs,” Cintron said.
“I just want the cops to catch him. My daughter was an innocent bystander. She was just out riding her bicycle.”
Police spent the day searching for the suspect, Billy James Jr., 17, who turned himself in late last night, according to police.
He was charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon, according to police.
Officials said they do not know the motive for the shooting.
Neighbors who witnessed the shooting said they were thrilled to have Amanda back home.
At a Father’s Day celebration and street party, one of the hosts hailed Amanda as “the bravest little girl in the neighborhood.”
Additional reporting by Kirstan Conley