SPRAY AND PLAY
Teen boy shot outside Bronx rec area
A teenage boy was shot Thursday when bullets flew outside a playground in The Bronx, an occurrence that residents complained happens all too often.
The 16-year-old was shot in the buttocks down the block from Willis Playground, located near PS 049 Willis Avenue School.
Peter Herrera, 30, was playing soccer at the park when the gunfire erupted around 4:30 p.m.
“I was right here at the park when everything happened. I heard three to four gunshots,” he said.
The firing sent parkgoers into a panic.
“When I heard the gunshots, we just packed our stuff,” Herrera said.
“I just saw people running. They were like, ‘Oh, my God.’ ”
Police recovered a loaded firearm at the scene and said the teen was rushed in stable condition to Harlem Hospital — where the violence only continued.
Three men assaulted the victim’s 21-year-old brother at the hospital, law enforcement sources told The Post. One man, 21, was arrested.
The victim’s assailants — both described as teenage boys — are still on the run.
“That happens most of the time,” Herrera complained about shootings in The Bronx. “The NYPD needs to do more patrolling near the park.”
The area’s precinct is less than 500 feet from where the shooting was reported.
“The precinct don’t do nothing to stop it,” Herrera said.
The shooting took place in one of the Big Apple’s most bullet-riddled neighborhoods. Last year, police said the Mott Haven area saw the most gun violence out of the entire borough and was named one of the top three New York City areas to see the most shootings.
The broad daylight shooting Thursday left residents rattled.
“It’s horrible,” said mom of two Marysol Ortiz. “I have two little kids here so for something to happen right next door . . . it’s sad. It’s sad it happens so often.
“It’s two blocks from the precinct, and nobody is here. This isn’t the first time it’s happened . . . it sucks,” she said, adding she was in her backyard with her kids when a shooting happened last summer in the playground.
“They unfortunately know about things that happen in this neighborhood,” Ortiz said, referring to her two kids.
“We play there. It’s our spot to play,” she said about the playground.