7-Year-Old Girl Injured In East Harlem Shooting
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A 7-year-old girl is the latest victim of gun violence in New York City.
At 6 p.m. on a Thursday, you would think a mother could walk safely with her daughter, but not this night.
Police say gunfire erupted on East 102nd Street near the Park Avenue underpass in East Harlem.
They say the intended target, a 19-year-old man, was shot in the leg, but another bullet grazed a 7-year-old girl.
Neighbors were shaken by what they saw.
"I went outside and looked, saw the cops running. What I did notice was blood on the steps, and I was like, where did this blood come from?" neighbor Pam Robinson told CBS2's Dick Brennan.
It's not clear what the motivation was for the shooting.
The little girl was taken to Columbia Presbyterian with minor injuries.
The 19-year-old went to Harlem Hospital, where he is recovering.
"It's scary. It's scary. With all this going on, people should know that we shouldn't be using guns, shouldn't be running around like cowboys. It's just, it's hard. It's hard," Robinson said.
It's been getting worse. Shootings have been up dramatically.
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Last week, there were 53 shootings, up from 12 the same time last year. For the entire year, there have been 448, up from 329 last year.
The number of victims has gone up, too.
Last week, there were 72, up from 14 at the same period last year, and year to date, 531, compared to 373.
Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged the troubling trend last week, saying, "We've talked throughout this week about the challenge we're having right now with shootings, which is job one to address, and that's what I want NYPD focused on first and foremost."
It's still unclear how he'll try to curb the violence while trying to balance the budget, which could include steep cuts to the NYPD.
What is clear, people who have to live here have seen and heard enough.
"I know that there has been gunfire because I know the difference between fireworks and gunfire, so they're shooting in between the fireworks and the police station is right down there," East Harlem resident Angela Jones said.
No arrests have been made in Thursday's shooting.
