Two bystanders, including a 1-year-old girl, were injured when gunfire broke out in the Bronx in broad daylight Monday afternoon, police said.
The shooting happened around 4 p.m. outside 726 Courtlandt Ave. in Melrose. A 32-year-old man was struck in the ankle, according to the NYPD.
A bullet fragment also hit a parked 2023 Honda Civic occupied by a teenage girl and a baby, shattering one of the vehicle’s windows, authorities said.
The 16-year-old passenger escaped injury, but flying glass struck the 1-year-old girl and left her with minor wounds, police said.
Emergency medical workers transported both victims to Lincoln Hospital, where they were listed in stable condition.
Investigators do not believe either victim was the shooter’s intended target, law enforcement sources said.
Surveillance footage obtained from the scene captures the tense moments leading up to the shooting. A figure dressed entirely in black walks along the block with one hand in a pocket, passing directly in front of the Honda.
The person then pulls out a gun and appears to fire at someone across the street, who is outside the camera’s view, the video shows.
It remains unclear whether the shooter seen in the footage was responsible for breaking the Honda’s window. The figure quickly vanished from the area after the gunfire.
In the video’s dramatic closing moments, a man exits a nearby building, checks on the people inside the Honda and ushers them indoors.
Neighbor Just Moore said he was returning from the grocery store with his 11-month-old child when he encountered the aftermath of the shooting.
“It’s stuff like this that’s the reason I don’t wear headphones when I’m out with her,” Moore said. “You always have to be aware of something that’s going on.”
Moore said he was not shocked to hear about a shooting in the Bronx, but the timing and location caught him off guard because the area is usually quiet.
“It’s a dangerous situation in a relatively quiet area in a relatively quiet time of the day,” he said.
Another local resident, David Valentin, said he was watching television when he heard what sounded like eight to 10 gunshots.
“I said, ‘It sounds like a gun, but it’s school time,’” Valentin recalled, describing the daytime shooting as “crazy.”
“Whatever person did that, they have to find him and get him off the streets. Because that’s dangerous,” he added.
Police sources said the teenager and the infant had no connection to the man wounded in the ankle.
No arrests have been announced, and the investigation remains ongoing, police said.