A two-year-old boy was shot in the Bronx on Saturday, and police are searching for the gunman.
Police said the shots were fired around 1.45pm local time, near the intersection of East Fordham Road and Grand Concourse.
It happened right outside Nana Kwame’s clothing store.
“All of a sudden we hear boom boom boom, like that, gunshot like three times,” Kwame said.
One of the bullets hit a two-year-old boy in the hip outside a TD bank on East Fordham Road, another shattered the glass to the bank as people scrambled for safety.
“Everybody was running away. We didn’t know what to do,” Kwame said.
The child was taken to a local hospital in stable condition. He is expected to survive.
A police source said the little boy’s birthday is Sunday.
Police said the shots were fired from across the street in front of Capital One, and the boy, who was walking with his mother at the time, was not the intended target.
Detectives spent the day canvassing the area and recovered multiple shell casings, but the gunman is still on the run.
The suspect was last seen running north on Creston Avenue towards 190th Street.
Mayor Eric Adams was on the scene after attending the funeral for NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller, who was fatally shot in the line of duty earlier this week.
“When you are coming from a police funeral where a gun took the life of a young police officer, and now you hear about a shooting like this, it just tells the city why we are so committed to take these illegal guns off the street,” Adams said.
Mansions teeter on cliff edge after California storms
Those in the Bronx neighbourhood said change needs to happen soon before more innocent victims get hurt.
“We gotta keep our prayers and be careful, be aware what’s going on because I know it’s going to get worse in the summer,” Bronx resident Dania Da Arrios said.
“It’s very disheartening, especially an innocent boy. It’s a Saturday morning and got shot like that. It’s very sad,” Kwame said.
The investigation is ongoing.
