Michelle Kim

NYPD: Man Dies, 5-Year-Old Son Wounded in Shooting Inside Bronx Apartment Building

A police official said gun violence is "especially troubling when it's fatal and when it involves a young innocent child"

What to Know

  • A 29-year-old man is dead and his 5-year-old son is wounded after someone opened fire in a staircase in a Bronx city-owned building
  • The two were in the staircase on the sixth floor when they were shot; it's not clear if they were targeted. No arrest has been made
  • The father was pronounced dead at the hospital; the boy is in stable condition at another local hospital

A man has died and his 5-year-old son was wounded when the two were shot in a staircase inside a Bronx apartment building, police said. 

The 29-year-old father, Jaquan Millien, had just picked up his son from school, and the two went to visit someone in the Butler Houses in Claremont Village. They were in the staircase on the fifth floor when someone opened fire.

Police officers arrived to find Millien shot in the stomach and the boy shot in the arm. One of the NYPD lieutenants who responded fashioned a tourniquet out of his belt and wrapped it around the boy's arm. 

"This five-year-old was extremely brave, extremely calm," said Lt. Eric Dym, a former Marine who said he was impressed by the boy's demeanor and "amazed by his bravery" as he spoke to the boy and rubbed his head to tell him he'd be OK. 

Millien was taken to Bronx Lebanon Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The boy is at St. Barnabas Hospital and is expected to survive. 

No arrests have been made. NYPD Chief of Housing James Secreto asked the public to contact Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS with any information. 

"Gun violence is never tolerated in our city," he said. "It's especially troubling when it's fatal and when it involves a young innocent child." 

"Our NYPD detectives will work tirelessly on this investigation until the person or persons responsible for this crime are caught," said Secreto. 

It's not clear if the shooting was targeted. Secreto said Millien "does have a criminal past."

Neighbors said Millien's girlfriend lives in the building he was visiting, and he lived in the building next door. 

"He did nothing to nobody, bro," one grieving relative said at the scene. "What is my brother gonna do without him, yo? That's my brother's whole heart." 

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