The search continues for the gunman responsible for taking the life of a 10-year-old boy late Saturday night in Queens and leaving his uncle hospitalized with a gunshot wound.
Police said Justin Wallace was with his uncle in the Rockaways at a home on Beach 45th Street in Edgemere when the shots were fired around 9:30 p.m. Saturday. The 10-year-old was hit in the chest and pronounced dead a short time later at a nearby hospital.
The boy's uncle, a 29-year-old, was hit in his shoulder and taken to Jamaica Hospital where he was recovering.
Police said the pair were victims of a drive-by shooting. Investigators have recovered surveillance video that shows an SUV pull up on the street before a man armed with a gun runs up to the from of the family home and fires off several rounds.
The motive for the shooting is still unclear but officials are looking into a reported disagreement earlier in the day at a family cookout between neighbors.
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Wallace's father spoke to News 4 the next morning, who was downstairs in the home at the time of the shooting. He said his son was turning 11 on Tuesday.
Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted Sunday morning calling the boy's death "a profound injustice." He later visited the boy's grieving family and promised that justice will be served.
"Justice Wallace should be alive right now. He's dead because of a coward's act," the mayor said. "To his family: your city shares your anger, it shares your sadness. We mourn with you."
No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
Justin's death comes amid rising concerns of gun violence affecting children across the city. Hours before the deadly shooting, police say a 12-year-old girl was shot in the ankle in the Mount Eden section of the Bronx. No arrests have been made in that incident either.
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“The NYPD has made record numbers of gun arrests this year and we continue to focus with precision policing on precincts with disproportionate gun violence," an NYPD spokesperson said in reaction to recent shootings. "The key to having an effect is for prosecutors and courts to ensure that those arrested with guns see real consequences.”