Police: 17-year-old girl grazed by bullet in shooting at Upper West Side NYCHA complex
NEW YORK -- A teenager is lucky to be alive after police say shots were fired outside an Upper West Side apartment building Friday.
One of those bullets grazed the 17-year-old's head.
As some enjoyed a calm, warm Saturday at the Douglass Houses on Columbus Avenue, the chatter was all about what happened the night before.
"That's awful because I was sitting down in my sofa, I heard three shots," one woman said.
Police say gunfire erupted Friday night after 10 p.m.
"Three shots, like pop pop pop," one man said.
Those shots startled neighbors.
"I was like, oh my gosh, what is that?" one neighbor said.
The woman says she called her friend.
"She's like, 'I need to get inside,'" she said.
Then she carefully glanced outside.
"I looked out the window, I saw the young woman. She was passed out on the ground," she said.
Witnesses say just moments before, a group of teenagers were gathered in the courtyard. Those teens got into an argument. That's when the gun went off.
"Fifty cops came out of nowhere, and then it turned into 100 cops," a neighbor said.
But there was relief as the witness saw the victim get up from the ground.
"They literally walked the girl with the bullet to the ambulance," she said.
This close call is now creating anger.
"I want more security in this place," said Carmen Quinones, the president of the Tenants Association.
She says youngsters are hanging in the lobbies and common areas in buildings.
"That was full the night before last with teenagers smoking and playing dice. NYCHA has do its job and start that no loitering thing," she said.
It's ne rule to fight for as many say they just want their safety and peace.
"I feel uncomfortable because it's very dark and it's very dangerous, too," one man said.
Police say that teenage victim taken to St. Luke's Hospital. She was last reported to be stable.
As far as the shooter, police are still searching for them.
