A 20-year-old woman was shot to death while pushing a 3-month-old baby in a stroller on New York City’s Upper East Side on Wednesday night, police said.
The 20-year-old victim was walking with her three-month-old baby when the shooter approached her and ‘fired a single shot into her head from a very close range,’ NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell told reporters.
An unknown person approached her and fired a single shot at close range, police said. The suspect fled immediately afterward on foot, traveling east along East 95th Street, according to the NYPD.
The unidentified killer immediately fled on foot heading eastbound on East 95th Street and remains at large, police said.
Horrified children at the nearby playground witnessed the shooting, and one girl described hearing a loud ‘boom’ that she quickly realized was a gunshot.
A 10-year-old girl, who was at the playground with her brother and aunt, told DailyMail.com that she heard an ‘extremely loud boom’ and saw a woman fall to the sidewalk.
“I was really confused, because I thought maybe this was fireworks. But then I realized that no, this is serious and that there was a gunshot,” the young witness said.
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“And it really frightened me because I was right there at the park playing and I never would have ever though that would happen,” she added.
“I saw a lot of people running, and I saw a woman down there, she fell,” the girl recalled. I was worried but then I wanted to stay calm, because I didn’t want any interaction, and I didn’t want anything else to happen.”
Mayor Eric Adams blamed the shooting on the ‘over-proliferation of guns’ and said that criminals have ‘no fear in using these guns on innocent New Yorkers.’
The woman was rushed to nearby Metropolitan Hospital, where she died within an hour. The baby was also taken to the hospital for evaluation but was unharmed.
Officials are probing domestic violence as a potential motive in the shooting, but have not yet confirmed such a connection.
Another area resident, an adult male, said that while the area used to feel safe, violent crime had seemed to be increasing.
“I wasn’t surprised to be honest, because I feel like this is starting to happen more and more often, all over the city,” he said.
“So it’s not that much of a shock to me unfortunately, that’s a sad thing,” the man added.
“This area felt safe even all hours of the night, and definitely not anymore,” he said. ‘There’s not much I can do, I already avoid being out real late at night, when there’s not too many people around.’
Mayor Adams called the shooting a ‘horrific crime’ and vowed that the perpetrator would be found and brought to justice.