5 wounded in Brooklyn gun blasts
A real-life Dora the Explorer found wandering the streets of the Upper East Side alone Monday was reunited with her family thanks to one savvy doorman and a group of Good Samaritans.
Tom Mullarkey, 43, a doorman who works near E. 75th St. and Fifth Ave., and a delivery man spotted the 3-yearold girl walking west just after 9 a.m. — and, seeing no adults with her, struck up a conversation.
“I started trying to talk to her, and her vocabulary was good and she seemed adamant to go that way,” Mullarkey said, gesturing toward Central Park. “I asked her her name and she didn’t know it.”
That’s when two women from a neighboring art gallery passed — and Mullarkey, thinking one of them might be the mother, asked them if they knew the girl.
But the women said they had never seen her before, and soon began peering up and down Fifth Ave. in search of a parent.
They looked for clues in the girl’s backpack, hoping to come across some information about her family. Finding nothing, they brought the child into the art gallery and dialed the police.
“She was the sweetest kid I’ve ever seen,” said Mullarkey. “She was so happy to see [the officers].”
Earlier on Monday, the girl and her mom had arrived at the Apple Store on Fifth Ave., 16 blocks downtown from where she was found, police said. The pair were waiting in a long line outside of the store when security personnel approached the mother and asked if she needed a chair.
An Apple employee stepped inside to get one — but upon returning found that the mother and her daughter were gone, police said.
The mother had walked in a different direction from her daughter, but left her pocketbook at the store, police said. Cops contacted the family and were able to locate the mother.
The girl was in good health but was unable to tell cops her name, authorities said. The child was later reunited with her grandmother.
The mother was taken to a hospital for an evaluation. She apparently suffered a medical episode and may have forgotten to take her medication, sources said.
Nathaly Berrio, 30, the woman from the art gallery who called police, said the intrepid 3-year-old apparently struck out on her own to find her mom.
“The girl just kept talking like ‘I have to go, I have to find Mommy.’ But she didn’t know where her mom was, she didn’t know her own name, she didn’t have anything,” Berrio said. “So I decided to call 911, and at least they could help.”
“She [told the officers], ‘Oh, you guys always catch me, you guys always catch me,’ ” Berrio added. “She didn’t even look like she was scared … everything was fine.”
Gunfire wounded four women and a teenage boy during a bloody half-hour span in Brooklyn early Monday, police said.
They mayhem began when cops were drawn to Bristol St. near Livonia Ave. in Brownsville by a 12:14 a.m. alert from ShotSpotter, the NYPD’s hightech sensors for detecting gunfire. They found three victims.
A 59-year-old woman shot in the leg in front of her home was taken to Brookdale University Hospital in stable condition. A 16-year-old girl blasted in the hand was taken to the same hospital in stable condition. A 27year-old woman hit in the right foot was taken to Kings County Hospital in stable condition.
Police recovered 14 9mm shell casings at the scene.
The teen victim’s friends flooded her Facebook with messages of support and concern after the shooting.
“I love you guys so much I can’t respond to everything,” the girl posted in response. “I keep crying I’m inna a lot of pain but it’s gonna take some time I keep thinking about it ... bad stuff just keeps happening to me.”
Just 30 minutes after the triple shooting a 53-year-old woman was shot in the leg and a 16-year-old boy was struck in the right arm outside a building on E. 21st St. near Flatbush Ave. in Flatbush, cops said.
The woman was taken to Kings County and the boy was taken to Maimonides Medical Center. Both were in stable condition.
There were no arrests in either incident. It was not clear who the intended targets of the shootings were.
Shootings have skyrocketed citywide, with 961 people shot this year through Sunday, 81% more than the 531 shot by this point last year.