Police: Girl, 8, Critical After Being Struck By Stray Bullet In Canarsie, Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An 8-year-old girl was fighting for her life Monday night after police say she was struck by a stray bullet while sitting in a van outside a fast food restaurant in Canarsie, Brooklyn.
The shooting happened around 5:30 p.m. outside a Popeyes near East 83rd Street and Flatlands Avenue, where police say a man pulled out a gun and opened fire following an argument.
The child was sitting behind the driver in a van stopped at a red light nearby when the bullet hit the rear of the van and struck the girl, according to police.
Police say two men, one wearing a gray sweatshirt and one wearing a red sweatshirt, fled the scene before first responders arrived.
"I saw when the driver ran out and people from Popeyes running, talking to each other, police pulled up and I saw kids piling out of the van," Neighbor Marsha Greene said, adding she ran outside when she heard the gunshot.
The girl was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
"She was really small, I could hold her in my hand," Greene said. "They took her out the van and in the ambulance."
Police say there were at least three other people in the van when the girl was struck who were unhurt.
"There's always vans like that that bring kids home from school and to find out she got shot, what would her parents think to get a call your daughter's in the hospital, she was shot," Canarsie resident Mylara Pierre said.
No arrests have been made as the investigation continues.
