NYPD investigating 2 shootings in under 48 hours in Williamsbridge section of the Bronx
NEW YORK -- Police are investigating two shootings that happened in just under 48 hours at the same location in the Bronx.
One of them was deadly, and the other sent a 5-year-old girl to the hospital.
There are no arrests in either shooting, but police are trying to determine if they are connected.
On White Plains Road and East 213th in the Williamsbridge section, a beige Nissan Maxima was parked neatly on Saturday, but the bullet holes had a story to tell.
So did the balloons a block away at a home on East 214th. It was there where neighbors heard gunfire around 7 p.m. Friday.
"I heard bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, and then the little girl got shot," neighbor Brenda Francis said.
Detectives say the 5-year-old was hit while sitting in the back of that Nissan.
"I was scared. We couldn't walk out, and we couldn't come back in," Francis said.
Police are now investigating not one, but two shootings within 48 hours and one block apart.
They say around 12:30 a.m. Thursday, two men were hit with bullets at East 213th and Holland Avenue. A 34-year-old survived, but 26-year-old Justin Rodriguez didn't.
"It's sad. It's really sad. It's pathetic what's going on," a neighbor named Jess said.
She says a memorial for Rodriguez was underway Friday night when shots rang out again, this time hitting that little girl.
The victim's father drove just a block away and realized what happened.
"He was carrying the daughter and she was shot behind her back, that's the only thing that I saw. And he was crying, 'Police, police, police, police! Help, help!' Two policemen came right away, and they took them to the hospital," said witness Zoila Peguero.
Police are trying to determine the motive behind these two shootings and if they are connected. What they do know is the 5-year-old was not the intended target.
The back-to-back gunfire has many on edge.
"People should be able to drive in their cars and know that they're safe. They can just go to the store and not worry about having to take their child to the hospital," Jess said.
But as the summer days approach, people in the area know the reality will be different. The solution?
"Put the guns down and stop the violence," one person said.
It sounds simple, yet so complicated.