Bx. kids’ trauma
Bro, sis dodged death; now boy ‘won’t leave dad’s lap’
Two children who miraculously dodged a barrage of bullets and escaped injury during a horrific Bronx shooting were traumatized by the caught-on-video ordeal, the youngsters’ family told elected city officials Sunday.
Relatives of Mia, 13, and her brother, Christian, 5, met with Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Brooklyn borough president and mayoral hopeful Eric Adams and Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez at the family’s Claremont home. Though the politicians spoke to reporters afterward, the children’s parents didn’t participate and wouldn’t comment.
The two children were standing outside a bodega on Sheridan Ave. near E. Mount Eden Ave. when a gunman, dressed all in black, chased after a man shortly before 7 p.m. Thursday.
The gunman’s target barreled into Mia and Christian, and they all toppled onto the sidewalk in a tangle.
Unfazed by the children’s presence, the callous gunman opened fire at least six times, hitting the man identified by sources as Hassan Wright, 24 — in the back and both legs.
“Kill him! Kill him!” an accomplice yelled as the gunman opened fire, a witness told the Daily News.
Diaz called Sunday’s conversation with the family “heart wrenching”.
“Her first instinct was to protect her little brother,” Diaz said of Mia. “She wants to be a police officer. Get a load of that, she’s already proven to be a protector.”
Adams, an exNYPD captain, has made public safety a centerpiece of his campaign.
“I wish there was a way for the entire city to sit in that living room and hear that family,” Adams said. “That little boy won’t leave his dad’s lap . ...
That mother is shattered. Every time she looks at the video she relives it.”
The children were headed to the store to buy a loaf of bread, and their relatives looked out the window and saw the shooting, Adams said. The experience was so harrowing, the family plans to relocate, he said.
“We need to catch him. We need to get him. He needs to be off our streets,” Adams said of the shooter.
Wright, who underwent surgery, was in stable condition, his mother told The News.
Cops are asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.