Police: 13-year-old boy shot in head on Staten Island
NEW YORK -- A 13-year-old boy was critically injured in a shooting on Staten Island on Friday.
Investigators worked throughout the evening and into the night collecting evidence after the teenager was sent to the hospital with a gunshot wound to his head.
The flashing lights of the police car could be seen in the dark, the park still closed off hours after the shooting.
"It's so terrible. It really is terrible. It's sad, and at the same time, it's normal here," Stapleton Houses resident Tracie Martinez said.
That teenage boy was hanging out with friends on the basketball court at the Stapleton Houses around 4 p.m. when shots were fired. P.S. 78 is next door.
"Just sad, 'cause my son goes to school right here, too, my daughter goes to school here, and it's just sad. I don't even go out no more," one mother said.
Investigators say someone discharged a gun twice toward that group, one bullet striking the victim in the head.
"Even though it's not my kid, it feels like it's my kid," said Malcolm Penn, with a local crisis management agency.
He says he knows the teenager, who he says is a good kid, lives at the Stapleton Houses and attends Eagle Academy nearby.
"He's in school, he's about to graduate. Very energic kid, just out having fun on a beautiful day like a normal 13-year-old does," Penn said.
That 13-year-old is now fighting for his life at the hospital, listed in critical condition because of this senseless act of violence that so many wish would end.
"We're just praying that he pulls through. That's it at this point, being there for the family and praying that he pulls through, and everything else, you know, is in God's hands, at this point," Penn said.
Police say there were no arguments between the shooter and the group on the basketball court, and they are trying to determine a motive.
