According to law enforcement sources and the boy’s family, a stray gunshot struck a 13-year-old boy on his way to a park in the Bronx on Monday evening to pick up his siblings.
Then, according to cops and sources, an accident injured two NYPD officers as they were approaching the scene.
Police say they shot the adolescent in the head at 7 p.m. on the grounds of NYCHA’s Morrisania Houses on East 169th Street near Park Avenue.
He was due to pick up his two younger siblings, both of whom are under the age of four, according to Joy, the boy’s cousin, who claims the children consider her an aunt.
The woman explained that the teen was also supposed to pick up Joy’s son on Tuesday afternoon.
“He was going to pick up my son in the park,” said Joy. “He was playing at the park with another child. He never got to them.
“They reached him following his shooting,” she stated. “It could have been my son, because he was in the park.”
According to authorities, the child, who did not appear to be the intended target, claimed he was strolling when he heard a long explosion.
He felt something warm trickle down his face, followed by a rush of anguish, according to the sources.
Lincoln Medical Center received him for non-life-threatening injuries.
“My nephew is all right,” the boy’s aunt stated. “I’ve talked to him.” The bullet grazed the top of his head.
“These kids don’t know the streets,” she explained. “They’re dangerous.” “They think guns are cute.”
No arrests have been made in connection with the violence.
A marked NYPD cruiser was responding to the scene when it veered to avoid an uninvolved vehicle and collided into a gate about a half-mile away on Webster Avenue at East 165th Street, police said.
Lincoln Medical Center received both police officers and listed their conditions as stable.
The adolescent is the latest young victim in a wave of citywide violence that began earlier this month, killing two teenagers and injuring at least six more.