Bronx detectives are busy hunting down the suspects behind a mass shooting Tuesday at a public park that left four people – including two young brothers, ages 3 and 6 – wounded.
All of the victims are expected to make a recovery, according to Chief of Patrol John Chell. He reported the kids were caught in a hail of bullets apparently fired indiscriminately at a group of people at St. James Park in Kingsbridge.
“As a dad and a parent in this city, I couldn’t imagine this happening to my kids,” Chell said during a press conference Tuesday night about the shooting. “Absolutely heart-wrenching and disturbing.”
Chell outlined the preliminary details of the shooting, which erupted at about 6:10 p.m. on July 11 inside the park near East 193rd Street between Jerome and Creston Avenues, within the confines of the 52nd Precinct.
Video that police obtained, Chell explained, indicated that the two suspects allegedly arrived on the scene on an illegal scooter. Both were wearing all-black clothing and masks.
The rear passenger on the scooter, the chief said, hopped off the scooter, pointed a firearm inside the park at a crowd of hundreds and began firing.
The two children suffered gunshot wounds to their right calves, Chell noted. Police said a third victim, a 23-year-old man, was shot in the left thigh, while that victim’s cousin, a 25-year-old man, took a bullet to his back.
After the violence, authorities reported, the two suspects fled on the scooter along East 193rd Street eastbound, before heading southbound on Creston Avenue.
So far, police have yet to ascertain a possible motive for the shooting, or any intended targets whom the gunman aimed to injure.
Regardless, Chell was incensed at the brazen act, and the trauma inflicted in this latest episode of gun violence — just days after a gunman went on a shooting rampage in Queens and Brooklyn that left a man dead and three others wounded.
“Two people with no regard for society or life pulled up to a crowded park and fired into that park, where hundreds of people were congregating on a hot July day,” he said. “This is totally unacceptable.”
All of the victims are now recovering at St. Barnabas Hospital while the investigation continues.
Anyone with information regarding the suspects’ whereabouts can call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
Shootings have dropped sharply in the 52nd Precinct so far in 2023. According to the most recent CompStat report, the command had logged 8 shootings with 8 victims through July 9, down by more than half from the same period in 2022.
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