A search continued Tuesday for a pair of gunmen who opened fire on a man in a New York City playground, hitting two children who were caught in the cross fire, police said.
The shooting in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn erupted Monday night as the girls, ages 9 and 11, were playing on a field at the Hilltop Playground, according to New York City Police Department investigators.
New York City police officers investigate a shooting on June 3, 2024, that left two girls, ages 9 and 11, wounded at a Hilltop Playground in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
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“Unfortunately, we’re here on a nice spring evening to talk about yet another senseless act of gun violence directed toward our most vulnerable youth,” Assistant Chief Scott Henderson, commanding officer of the Brooklyn North patrol division, said at a news conference at the playground where the girls were shot.
The shooting erupted around 9:05 p.m. as the girls, whose names were not immediately released by police, were playing on the artificial grass of the playground’s main field, Henderson said.
“A preliminary investigation reveals that there were possibly two shooters that fired at least six rounds in the direction the children were playing,” Henderson said. “At this time, it is unknown who the intended target was.”
NYPD Deputy Chief John Mastronardi, commanding officer of the Detective Borough Brooklyn North, said the shooting occurred in front of one of the girls’ mothers.
New York City police officers investigate a shooting on June 3, 2024, that left two girls, ages 9 and 11, wounded at a Hilltop Playground in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
WABC
“The mother of the 11-year-old was watching from a park bench as the children were playing in the middle of the field,” Mastronardi said.
Security video reviewed by detectives captured two gunmen entering the playground and both opening fire on a yet-to-be-identified individual, but ended up hitting the girls in the crossfire, Mastronardi said. He said, based on preliminary evidence, the children were not the intended targets of the shooting.
No arrests have been announced and detectives asked for the public’s help in identifying the gunmen.
Mastronardi said the 9-year-old girl was shot in the right leg while the 11-year-old was shot in the back.
Family members took both girls to Brookdale Hospital, where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, Henderson said. He said the younger child was later transferred to Maimonides Medical Center for further treatment.
A motive for the shooting remained under investigation.
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“At this time, we’re exploring multiple avenues of possible motives for this type of incident, but we’re not going to rule out gang-related incidents that are problematic to this particular area of Brooklyn,” Mastronnardi said.
He pointed out several pairs of shoes scattered on the playground, including those worn by the young victims.
Henderson said investigators recovered shell casings at the scene from two different caliber guns.
“Our detectives will be working diligently to apprehend the individuals responsible for this horrendous act of violence,” Henderson said.
Several pairs of Crocs were left behind on a field at the Hilltop Playground in Brownsville, Brooklyn, including those worn by two children, ages 9 and 11, who were shot there on June 3, 2024.
WABC
Parents and grandparents who frequent the park said the shooting left them worried for their children.
“I’m angry. I’m upset. I’m hurt because children are in this park all the time. I was in the park with my grandson, who is a year old,” one resident told ABC New York City station WABC, adding she knows one of the girls who was shot and saw her at the playground over the weekend.
The young victims are among 324 children 11 years old or younger who have been shot in incidents across the nation in the first five months of the year, including 94 who were killed, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a website that tracks all U.S. shootings.
