12-year-old NYC girl wounded in shooting was struck by stray bullet while walking with aunt: sources
The 12-year-old girl who was shot and wounded in the Bronx over the weekend was an innocent bystander struck by a stray bullet while walking with her aunt, law enforcement sources said Monday.
The girl, whose name is being withheld by The Post, was struck in the shoulder and her 35-year-old aunt was shot in the foot during the rash of gunfire on Eastburn Avenue around 9:45 p.m. Sunday, the sources said.
Police said a 23-year-old man was also wounded when he was struck in the thigh by one of the slugs.
All three were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, where they were listed in stable condition.
A fourth victim, a 22-year-old man, walked into the hospital with a gunshot wound to the toe following the shooting in the Mount Hope neighborhood, sources said.
Police said six 9 mm shells were recovered at the scene. No arrests have been made and the incident is under investigation.
The girl was one of at least four young victims hit by bullets in recent shootings.
On Saturday night, a 15-year-old boy died after he was hit with multiple bullets at a Manhattan park.
The teen, identified Monday as Wesley Vasquez, was at the basketball courts at Riverbank State Park in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood around 6:40 p.m. when he was shot. He was rushed to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital, where he died.
State police, who have jurisdiction at the park, arrested Anibal Cruz, 36, and charged him with second-degree murder in the case, they said Monday.
In another Bronx shooting, a 5-year-old girl was critically wounded Friday night while riding in a car with her family on East 214th Street, according to police.
Cops said at a Sunday briefing outside the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, where the girl is recovering, that the shooting was linked to “a homicide the night before.”
The shooting happened around 7 p.m. during a vigil for 26-year-old Justin Rodriguez, who was shot and killed just one block away on Thursday morning.
“I can assure you there will be closure in this case,” NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell told reporters. “We just promised Mom and Dad that we will close this case in short fashion.”
The NYPD identified two suspects in the incident — Austin Morrishow, 25, and Curtis White, 26 — who both remain at large.
The incident came one week after another teenager, a 17-year-old boy, was shot in the back during an exchange of gunfire near the Pearly Gates playground in the Westchester Square section of the Bronx.
Police said the victim was driven to Montefiore Medical Center by friends with non-life-threatening injuries.
Cops released surveillance footage of the suspects but no arrests have been made.
In all, police said there were nine shootings in the Big Apple since Friday afternoon, seven of them in the Bronx.
“We’re here to talk about an issue that affects every single New Yorker, that is gun violence,” Acting NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said at a press briefing on Monday. “This past weekend we are reminded, again, just how serious this is.”
“These are real guns in the hands of real bad people that are harming real children,” Caban said.
Additional reporting by Joe Marino
