A 16-year-old boy has been arrested on attempted murder, assault and weapons charges for allegedly opening fire on a 14-year-old boy as he boarded an MTA bus in Manhattan last month.
The teenager was taken into custody Monday as a result of the investigation into the Oct. 14 broad daylight shooting at the 14-year-old in Harlem. His name has not bee released because of his age. The victim's name hasn't been shared either.
Police had said the suspect fired two shots as the boy boarded an M1 bus shortly before 10 a.m. that day. The victim suffered a graze wound to his head. Surveillance footage showed the suspect open fire from the sidewalk and run off.
Police sources had said they didn't believe that the mid-morning shooting on East 139th Street near Lenox Avenue was random. An NYPD inspector said it appeared, based on the video footage, that was intentional.
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Officials had said they were looking into whether the shooting was gang-related. Police sources told NBC New York that the teen was being watched and stalked when he stepped onto the bus, which is when the shooter rushed at him and fired.
No gang-related charges were filed as of Tuesday.
News 4 obtained a photo of the bus that showed a clear bullet hole in the driver's side window. Another bullet hit protective plastic, with a metal bar stopping the bullet and possibly saving the MTA driver's life.
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The 39-year-old driver of the bus had 4 1/2 years on the job at the time of the shooting, MTA President Craig Cipriano said.
He said his "heart goes out" to that driver, who was said to have suffered a minor injury to his left hand along with emotional trauma.
"The bus operator barrier, the metal bar on the bus operator barrier stopped one of the bullets. Which otherwise could have had really serious consequences," said Cipriano.
Advocates describe the case as yet another example of the gun violence that has plagued the city the last year and a half.
"He was shot at and he was shot at at his head. What that says to us in this work is someone was trying to take his life, so I had to have that conversation with his mother at the hospital," said Iesha Sekou of Street Corner Resources, a community group working to stop gun violence.
