Bx. mom’s boyfriend busted in girl shoot

A ex-con recklessly pumped a bullet into his girlfriend’s sleeping 8-year-old daughter in their Bronx apartment before fleeing to Vermont, prosecutors charged Thursday.

Suspect Jayshiem (Jay) Daniels, 38, was held on $150,000 bail for assault, weapons possession, reckless endangerment and acting in a manner injurious to a child for the Sept. 23 shooting at NYCHA’s Patterson Houses in Mott Haven.

The young victim required emergency surgery after the bullet tore through her abdomen, said Bronx Assistant District Attorney Sean Doddy.

“He carelessly assumed that the firearm was unloaded, discharged the firearm, the bullet ... leaving her torso and exiting the body,” Doddy said.

Bronx Criminal Court Judge Shari Michels also issued orders of protection for both the mother and the wounded daughter.

Daniels, wearing a surgical mask and dark blue T-shirt, appeared remotely for his arraignment. He fidgeted uncomfortably as the prosecutor detailed the little girl’s injuries.

The wounded girl was taken by her mom to Lincoln Medical Center, where the parent initially insisted to police that a stranger barged into her E. 143rd St. apartment and opened fire.

She finally implicated Daniels after repeated questioning, but was not immediately facing charges for lying to cops, a police source said.

“She’s always defending him,” said Bronx next-door neighbor Maria Diaz, 60, about the mom and her beau. “Who would defend a boyfriend who shot your own daughter? Not me. ... And if she knew he had a gun, why would she let him take it out if she had a little girl?”

Another neighbor described Daniels as a sketchy character who clashed with other residents of the building.

“I never liked him,” said the neighbor from across the hall. “He was into some pretty strong drugs. I think he was capable of doing that, because he’s threatened people downstairs. I’m glad they caught him.”

Daniels fled to New England and hid there until cops nabbed him last week on a drug charge, sources said. He served three stints in state prison on drug possession charges between 2001 and 2016, with his parole ending in 2017, court records show.

Defense attorney Adam Sheldon claimed his client was a changed man despite his past drug problems and convictions, describing Daniels as a painter and sheetrock worker with ties to the Bronx community.

“Yes, my client has a criminal history,” said Sheldon. “But most of that was from approximately eight years ago. He’s completely turned his life around.”

But Michels decided Daniels was a flight risk, noting his decision to bolt after the Bronx shooting and citing his prior outof-state crimes in North Carolina and New Jersey.

The defense lawyer acknowledged the high bail will likely keep Daniels behind bars pending a Monday court date.