An 11-year-old girl died Monday night after being struck by a stray bullet on the streets of the Bronx in New York City, the New York Police Department announced.
The girl was shot in the abdomen when a man on a scooter attempted to shoot another person running down the street, NYPD Assistant Chief Philip Rivera said at a news conference. A bullet struck the young girl instead of the intended target, he said.
The girl was taken to the hospital in critical condition but later died from her injuries, police said.
At the time of the shooting around 4:50 p.m. Monday, two men on an electric scooter were chasing another man down Fox Street, Rivera said. The man riding on the back of the scooter fired at the man fleeing on foot and instead fatally struck the young girl, he said.
Police are looking for the shooter, as well as the man driving the scooter and the intended target of the bullet, Rivera said. NYPD released surveillance footage of the suspects and are asking the public for any information related to the crime.
“This is very, very difficult for us to accept,” Deputy Chief Timothy McCormack said at the news conference. “This is the second child that’s shot in this borough this year. An 11-month-old and now and 11-year-old. It is troubling that this is happening in our society today.”
The shooting comes as New York City is grappling with a 41% increase in overall major crime so far in 2022 compared to the same period last year, NYPD crime statistics show.
There have been more than 520 shooting victims in the city so far this year, the NYPD statistics show.
The victims include an 11-month-old girl who was shot in the face by a stray bullet in the Bronx in January while sitting with her mother in a parked car.
Last month, the city was wracked by a mass shooting in which a gunman fired more than 30 shots in a crowded subway car, shooting 10 commuters and causing 19 others to be injured in the ensuing panic, according to police.
At the beginning of the year, New York City Mayor Eric Adams unveiled an ambitious plan to combat gun violence in the city, which included initiatives to increase patrol officer presence on the streets, combat the flow of guns into the city and encourage prosecutors to move forward with gun charges more quickly.
