An 11-year-old girl was killed after she was the unintended victim of a drive-by shooting in the Bronx, law enforcement sources told NBC New York
The girl was shot while on Westchester Avenue in the Foxhurst neighborhood, by two suspects on a moped, two law enforcement sources said. The two fired at a group of men on a street corner, and it the girl was not believed to be the intended target.
The girl, who was struck by a bullet in the stomach, was rushed to Lincoln Hospital, where she died. She was with family members at the time of the shooting.
"The girl, she just kept saying 'Ow, ow, ow' and holding her stomach. We were trying to figure out where she got shot at, we checked her leg there was nothing," said witness Maya Jones. "She kept holding different places, then she stopped responding."
Surveillance videos shows a man running down nearby Fox Street, being chased by the two men on a scooter. The man riding on the back opened fire, the video showed. The child was half a block away from where the gun was fired.
"When I heard her age I broke down, because it's like, she just came from school, and it's like, why her? Why it had to be her? Why y'all doing this?" Jones said.
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The two men on the moped, both wearing dark-colored sweatshirts, immediately fled from the scene of the shooting, heading north on Fox Street.
An investigation is ongoing.
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The girl was at least the second young child to be shot in the Bronx in 2022. In January, an 11-month-old girl, just days away from her first birthday, was shot in the face while sitting in a car with his mother in the Bronx. That victim left the hospital just days ago after having to relearn how to eat and walk again on her own.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.