Shocking surveillance footage captured the moment two young children were trampled by a man as he tried to escape from a shooter who fired nearly a dozen bullets in the middle of a Bronx street and pointed his gun at the terrified kids.
The NYPD released the video on Friday afternoon and asked for the public’s help in identifying the gunman in the latest of nearly 150 shootings across the city this month.
The video opens with a boy and girl – believed to be around the ages of five and 10 – walking on a sidewalk before people scatter when a gunman chases a man in a red sweater.
The man in the sweater, who police believe was the intended target, barrels into the kids and knocks them down before the gunman runs up and fires multiple times in their direction.
The alleged target scrambles to his feet but trips in the three-person scrum before crawling over the kids to escape the hail of bullets.
The two children are momentarily pinned under the man in the sweater while he is shot at as the older girl is seen grabbing the boy and holding him tight in an attempt to shield him.
The man in the sweater was shot multiple times but is still alive, according to the NYPD, and amazingly, the children weren’t shot or seriously injured.
This is the latest brazen act of violence in New York City – where shootings have skyrocketed since the pandemic gripped the country.
Shocking surveillance footage captured the moment two young children were trampled by a man as he tried to escape from a shooter who fired nearly a dozen bullets in the middle of a Bronx street and pointed his gun at the terrified kids
The suspect momentarily retreats with the victim on the ground
Then the gunman comes back for a closer shot and fires at the man with the two kids inches away from the victim
The gunman ran from the scene and took off with another suspect on a scooter.
NYPD said it doesn’t have a motive for Thursday evening’s brazen attack on Sheridan Avenue in the Bronx, and believe the man in the red sweater was the intended target.
The children aren’t related to the victim and were just walking in the area when the shooting started.
The sun was still up when the shooting happened in the middle of a sidewalk lined with storefronts and potential witnesses.
Anyone with information regarding the suspects whereabouts can call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS.
NYPD say this man helped the gunman escape after he ran from the scene
Statistics show shooting crimes have been up this year city-wide compared to last year
Crimes have been rising throughout New York City, according to the NYPD
The shooting marked a continuation of New York City’s descent into a lawless free-for-all where random attacks in the street happen nearly every day.
Felony assaults are up eight percent for the first six months of 2021, compared to the same period last year, rapes are up by 10 percent and robberies – which includes muggings – have spiked by nearly 40 percent this month.
The numbers are disturbing in themselves, but the violence has intensified and taken place in public places, like parks and subways, and in front of witnesses and surveillance cameras.
On Monday, an unidentified man attacked two people with a rock after an argument became physical on a Brooklyn-bound subway.
One of the victims was rushed to the hospital with bruising to the head and knee, and the other victim was treated at the scene, according to police.
On Thursday, a 15-year-old was stabbed to death by a 48-year-old man over a parking spot in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.
The victim, Tory Lovick, was pronounced dead at the hospital, and the suspect’s identity will be released after he’s formally charged, the NYPD said.
These are examples of individual acts of violence, but there are even larger crime-related issues plaguing the city.
There’s a war brewing between residents in Greenwich Village and partygoers in Washington Square Park after pandemonium broke out last weekend in New York City’s iconic Washington Park.
A wild, all-night rave ended with multiple people beaten and stabbed, and a diner cook being thrown through a window.
The New York City man behind out-of-control raves in Washington Square Park has said that fed-up wealthy residents should be the ones to leave. Partygoers are pictured on June 10
Two women are seen dancing during a massive rave in Washington Square Park last Friday. Local residents say anti-social behavior is making their lives unbearable
The New York Police Department’s Sixth Precinct called an emergency meeting Wednesday night amid growing complaints from merchants and residents about the non-stop partying.
The meeting was met with dozens of protestors, who flocked by to park by nightfall. Although Wednesday night and Thursday were calmer than previous days, the NYPD said on Friday that they’ll be on high alert this weekend.
Another major issue the residential and high-tourist area of Midtown Manhattan around around Times Square and Hell’s Kitchen, where thousands of homeless people were moved to hotels during the pandemic.
Eight Avenue between Penn Station and The Port Authority Bus Terminal has become a drug corridor and a crime hot spot.
The police precinct that includes Times Square and many of the hotels where the homeless have been living saw a 183 percent spike in felony assaults and 173 percent spike in robberies so far this year compared to 2020, according to NYPD data.
Bill Bratton, former NYC police commissioner under mayors Rudy Giuliani and Bill de Blasio, on Monday warned American cities are in for a ‘very, long dangerous summer’
Earlier this week, former NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton warned American cities, including New York City, are in for a ‘very, long dangerous summer’ as murder rates have skyrocketed
And there aren’t any short- or long-term answers, Bratton told CNBC’s Shepard Smith on Monday.
‘Unlike the last crime epidemic that took decades to build up to the early ’90s, this one has occurred, literally, overnight,’ Bratton said.
‘It’s like the virus, it’s literally, out of nowhere, and so solutions are not immediately apparent.’
Bratton, who earned the nickname ‘supercop’ for helping clean up the streets of New York City and Los Angeles, issued his warning on Monday as NYPD data showed shootings and murders in the Big Apple have increased by almost 70 percent and 12 percent, respectively.
In May, Governor Andrew Cuomo called the surge in violent crime a ‘major problem’ and said unless the NYPD gets a handle on it soon, the city would become undesirable.
‘New Yorkers don’t feel safe and they don’t feel safe because the crime rate is up. It’s not that they are being neurotic or overly sensitive – they are right.’ he said.