EAST NEW YORK —Police are appealing to the public to help them find the man they believe accidentally shot a 14-year-old girl on Friday while trying to gun down another man, police said.
The girl, who was was shot in her left leg, just above the knee, was caught in the crossfire at the corner of Euclid Avenue and Sutter Avenue at 3:30 p.m. Friday as she walked home from school, police said.
The girl had been standing on the street corner when she heard three to four shots fired, then felt a pain in her leg, and realized she had been shot, police said.
Video footage released by the NYPD shows a man they believe is responsible for shooting the young girl in the leg, police said.
In the video, a man of about 18 to 20 years old, wearing a black sweatshirt and dark jeans, runs down the sidewalk on Sutter Avenue. Police described the suspect as being approximately 5'9" tall and weighing 170 lbs.
Police said the footage shows the suspect running east on Sutter Avenue, moments before he stopped at a gas station and fired three shots in the direction of the girl before fleeing the scene of the crime.
The NY Daily News reported that the gunman was aiming at another person near the girl, who the paper described as wearing white pants and a blue hoodie.
EMS responded to the scene and transported the girl to Kings County Hospital, where she is in a stable condition, according to police.
The girl, whose parents asked she not be identified, is a student at the Benjamin Banneker Academy in nearby Fort Greene, according to the NY Daily News and a "straight-A student" according to the girl's mother Charisse Tucker, who added that she was lucky her daughter was alive.
Tucker, who lives just blocks from the shooting, told the paper she had lost one child in a drowning accident three years before. "I thank God she's okay," Tucker reportedly said. "I couldn't stand to lose another child...She didn't deserve this."
A police investigation is ongoing. Police are asking the public to watch the surveillance footage and contact Crime Stoppers with any information regarding the incident. Tips to the police can be submitted anonymously on 1-800-577-8477, or by texting "TIP577" to 274637. Tips can also be submitted via the Crime Stoppers website.
