Six people were injured Monday evening in a shooting at a Bronx convenience store, New York, including a 12-year-old girl and her mother, after one of the intended targets allegedly used the mother as a human shield, police said.
The 40-year-old mother was shot in the stomach, while the person who grabbed her was not injured, said interim Chief of Department John Chell. The condition of the mother and the other victims was not immediately released. Chell called the incident “a brazen and heartless attack on innocent New Yorkers and cowardly intended victims.”
Police believe two gunmen opened fire at around 5 p.m. on White Plains Road, a major commercial street in the Bronx, targeting a group of people standing outside the store. Surveillance footage showed the attackers running across the street and firing as their targets fled inside. At the store counter, one of the intended targets allegedly grabbed the mother and turned her into the line of fire, Chell said.
The victims, apart from the mother, suffered gunshot wounds to their arms or legs. Five were transported to local hospitals by emergency services, while the sixth reportedly found their own way to medical care. Among the injured were four men, aged 18 to 21, Chell said.
No arrests have been made, and investigators in New York are still working to determine a motive for the shooting.
