By Nicholas Rizzi
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
BRONX — Surveillance cameras captured frightening footage of an 8-year-old boy being struck by gunfire at a Bronx bodega Tuesday night — but the youngster put on a brave face despite being wounded.
The victim, who was not seriously hurt in the incident, was standing near the bodega’s entrance at 1741 Randall Ave. shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday, when a person passing by on a bicycle fired a shot into the store, police said.
"He wasn't crying or anything. He didn't scream,” said Mahmood Abdulrub, 27, who was working at the bodega, Papa Yala's, at the time of the shooting.
Surveillance footage shows the boy walking into the store and standing by a rack of chips. All of a sudden, he calmly clutches his shoulder and looks around as others scramble into the store.
"Despite him being shot, he was very polite,” the worker added, noting the boy even asked if it was OK if he spit up blood inside the store.
The only time the child flinched was when Abdulrub helped tend to him after noticing the boy's mother wasn’t applying enough pressure to the wound.
The worker explained that the child and his mother had only been in the store a couple minutes before the shooting occurred, adding that a group of people was standing outside the shop at the time.
"This is a troubled neighborhood," he said. "Just sad it had to happen to a child."
The boy was taken to Jacobi Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.
Police said there were no suspects.
