BROWNSVILLE — Four teenagers were shot in broad daylight on a crowded Brownsville playground Monday by another teen riding a bicycle, police and news sources said, the latest young victims in a string of summer playground shootings citywide.
The gunfire erupted at Fish Playground near 2013 Fulton Street just before 6:30 p.m., police and witnesses reported.
"It sounded like fireworks," said a 49-year-old man who gave his name as Powerful Hinton.
"The park was full of young people," Hinton, who runs a general store across the street, added.
Three of the victims — a 13-year-old girl, Shamar Smith, 16, and Rohan Alexander, 18, according to the New York Daily News — suffered graze wounds, the NYPD reported.
The fourth victim, Isaiah Thomas, 16, was shot in the left arm, police said.
The three boys were taken to Brookdale Hospital, police reported. They were released Tuesday, hospital officials said.
"Mommy, somebody shot me," Rohan Alexander said, his mother recounted. "I don't know what happened.
"It was a random shooting. I thought he was playing," the mom, who declined to give her name, recalled Alexander saying, referring to the shooter. "I didn't think he was serious."
The girl, whose identity has not been released, was rushed to Interfaith Medical Center.
All four were in stable condition and their injuries were not considered life-threatening, police said.
The gunman, described by police as a 16-year-old boy last seen wearing a long-sleeve shirt, opened fire from his bike and pedaled away, CBS New York reported.
Police are investigating what led to the shooting and whether the four victims were the intended targets.
"It's shocking," said Douglas Wright, 28, who was planning to play basketball at the playground with his 12-year-old son. "When does it stop?"
The incident marks the second time in two weeks that a group of teenagers has been shot on a city playground, and at least the fourth playground shooting this summer.
Three teenagers, including a 14-year-old girl, were shot on a playground in Williamsbridge in The Bronx on National Night Out Against Crime on August 7. In all, eight people were shot across the city that night alone.
Last month, Lloyd Morgan, 4, was struck in the head by a stray bullet and killed at a memorial basketball game in Morrisania in The Bronx. Barely two weeks earlier, Isaiah Rivera, 3, was shot in the leg and injured by a stray bullet from another shootout in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn.
Both boys were playing on playgrounds when the shootings erupted.
Jesse Lent contributed to this article.
