A 12-year-old boy died while eating in a parked vehicle in Brooklyn, New York, and a family member who was with him was seriously injured when two other cars exchanged fire, authorities said.
The boy and his relative, a 20-year-old woman, appear to have been victims of the shooting, but were not the targets of the shooters, the New York Police Department spokesman said.
Also, along with the victims was a girl who was not injured, police officials reported.
So far no arrests have been made in connection with the incident and officers are searching for the suspects.
This is one of the many shootings and acts of violence that have recently occurred in New York City, where the figures revealed that criminal acts have increased in the main categories, where homicides, rapes, robberies, among others, are mainly other things.
“In fact, we ask for the public’s help and assistance in helping us solve this case,” New York Police Deputy Chief of South Brooklyn Michael Kemper told a news conference.
The woman, along with the two minors, had stopped so they could eat when the shots were fired at about 7:45 p.m. Thursday, police said.
The shooting came from people driving two dark-colored sedans, authorities said in a statement Friday.
“A preliminary investigation determined that the victims were eating in the vehicle,” the news release read.
The boy was sitting in the passenger seat when he was shot multiple times, including one in the head, CNN reported.
Likewise, the driver was also shot more than once and was taken to a hospital, where she underwent surgery on the same day of the shooting and is in critical condition, hoping that she will survive, the police reported.
For her part, the girl who was in the back seat of the vehicle was not injured. So far, police have not released the names of any of the three.
The deputy chief of the New York police for the southern district of Brooklyn, Joe Gulotta, requested that if there are any witnesses who can offer any clues related to the case or if they know who the people who were driving the two sedans in the shooting are, they communicate. with the nearest authorities.
On the other hand, Eric Adams, mayor of New York, said that firearms on the streets of the city are a problem that needs a prompt solution to avoid this type of criminal act.
“It’s time for it to stop,” Adams said at the news conference. “That is why we are here. Let’s do our job. We need everyone to help us end this senseless violence.”
In this sense, in March, a controversial New York police unit took to the streets of the city, which was reactivated with the aim of eradicating the increase in violence with firearms, promising extensive training to avoid the tactics aggressive and abusive police officers left by the previous one.
The so-called Neighborhood Security Teams are the latest version of the units of agents dressed as civilians and whose objective is to search for people who use firearms and will be deployed in 25 neighborhoods, which represent 80% of the violence with firearms in New York.
When the unit is fully constituted, the specialized officials will be in neighborhoods and various housing projects, according to what was reported by the municipal authorities. This unit replaces the anti-crime team that was dismantled in 2020.
