The 9-year-old boy shot in the leg by a stray bullet was standing on his front stoop when he was hit, his horrified uncle told the Daily News.
“He went outside to play with his 8-year-old cousin,” the boy’s uncle, Timothy Johnson, said, recalling the Thursday night shooting. “It was just one shot and then a bunch of kids running. It happened so quick.”
“Everyone’s still in shock,” Johnson, 33, said.
As of Friday night, the child remained in Brookdale University Hospital, but was on the mend, his uncle said.
“He’s going to be all right, thank God,” his uncle said.
The child had just stepped out of his home near the corner of Bristol St. and Livonia Ave. in Brownsville just before 6 p.m. when the shot was fired.
The boy was hit in the right leg, cops said.
“His cousin was standing above him baffled,” Johnson said. “He was crying. He was definitely crying.
The child’s cries quickly grabbed the attention of the boy’s mother, who raced outside.
“His mom grabbed him and swept him up,” Johnson said.
A group of teens was spotted fleeing the scene on foot, but the NYPD could not immediately provide a description of the suspect.
No arrests have been made, cops said. It wasn’t immediately clear what happened before the shot was fired.
“They shot my nephew,” the victim’s aunt, who gave her name as Kim, told The Daily News on the night of the shooting. “My baby was just trying to go play outside with my son.”
The shooter and at least two others were last seen running to the subway, the aunt said, outraged by the random act of violence that could have easily wounded her own son.
“He’s just a regular little boy trying to come outside,” she said about her nephew. “It’s not safe. They’ve got big beefs around here.”
The shooting occurred just a few hours after Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced that the NYPD has taken 1,000 guns off the street so far this year.
The announcement was made in the 73rd Precinct stationhouse — just five blocks from where the child was shot.
As of March 22, cops had investigated 121 shootings in the city, one fewer than this time last year.
After a record-breaking cold snap in January that contributed to a drop in crime, shootings jumped by 20% in the past four weeks compared with the same period last year, from 39 to 47, according to NYPD statistics.
With Rocco Parascandola