What to Know
- Police are searching for a gunman seen firing shots into a crowd on a Bronx sidewalk with at least one child nearby
- It happened the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 22, along a commercial strip on Gerard Avenue in the Bronx
- No one was injured but the shooter is wanted for reckless endangerment
Terrified bystanders — including a little girl with a backpack — rushed to take cover after a gunman fired into a crowd on a sidewalk in broad daylight, newly-obtained surveillance video shows.
The suspect walked up to a 19-year-old man walking with a group of four other people in front of 115 Gerard Ave. in Concourse around 2 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 22 and fired three rounds, police said.
No one was hit, but the gunshots sent the crowd into a panic.
Video from the scene shows a young girl in pink leggings and a backpack rush down an alleyway and up a flight of stairs to a landing outside an apartment building after the gunman, standing mere feet from her, fires the shots.
Another woman flees up the stairs and comforts the trembling, crying girl, video shows. Someone in the apartment building eventually lets the girl and the woman inside.
Community members were outraged after the shooting.
Local
“My heart dropped when I saw the little girl running for her life,” community activist Awilda Cordero told News 4. “She was so smart, because she saw him shooting, and the first thing she did, she turned around and just started running.”
"She shouldn't be experiencing something like that, that's scary right there," said resident Sergio Lopez.
Police sources told News 4 they believe the gunfire was gang-related. The gunman is still at large.
"We need to get him. This is crazy," Cordero said. "Especially when there are kids around. She's not the only child that was running."
"If he did it now and didn't care, he will continue doing it," she added.
Resident Michael Belisle said, "When you look at the video, the next time it could be somebody's little girl."
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS.
