A 7-year-old boy was shot in a Bronx home Sunday afternoon, becoming at least the third innocent minor to be struck by a bullet in the borough in a week, police said.
The child was inside a home on East 230th Street in the Wakefield section of the borough when he was shot in the left hand around 4 p.m., according to the NYPD.
The family of the victim, whose name was not released by police, took him to Jacobi Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition, police said.
Cops are investigating whether the child got hold of the gun and accidentally shot himself in the hand, according to law enforcement sources.
Police said they received a 911 call about the shooting, which remains under investigation.
The incident marks at least the third shooting of an innocent child in that area of the Bronx in the last week.
On May 12, Evette Jeffrey, 16, was shot in the head and killed near a schoolyard after coming back from celebrating her anniversary with her boyfriend at a local Chinese restaurant. She was caught in the crossfire of a gang-fueled shootout and was not the intended target, cops said.
Mayor Eric Adams visited the tragic scene that night and had an impromptu conversation with a clutch of terrified parents.
“Several lives are destroyed,” Adams said of the deadly shooting.
“We know that we have an obligation to create safe environments for young people. And that is what we try to do every day,” he added.
The next day, an 11-year-old boy was injured in a shooting when, again, teens opened fire on a rival gang just blocks from where Jeffrey was slain riding her scooter. The shooters missed their targets, but one of their bullets smashed through the rear passenger side window of a passing car and showered the boy with glass. He was taken to the hospital and listed in stable condition.
The driver of the car was shot in the shoulder and also listed in stable condition.
The shooters escaped on Citi Bikes.
