The Staten Island teenager who was shot in the head Friday afternoon while he was hanging out at a borough playground is now brain dead, police sources said.
The 13-year-old boy, who has not been publicly identified, remains in critical condition at the Richmond University Medical Center, sources said Sunday.
Video of the shooting showed the victim standing with several other young people near the basketball courts in Stapleton Playground seconds before gunfire rang out at about 3:50 p.m. May 19, according to the sources.
A single bullet struck the teen on the left side of the head and exited out the right side, police sources said.
He immediately dropped to the ground as his compatriots scattered.
Two men fled up a path on the park’s Hill Street side, while another group of five ran into the nearby Stapleton Houses, according to cops and police sources.
Police found the boy, who has no criminal history, lying face-up near the basketball court, unconscious and bleeding from the head.
The victim lives in the South Beach Houses and goes to school at The Eagle Academy in Stapleton, according to the Staten Island Advance. The paper added that a community advocate was trying to help him escape street violence before the shooting.
One witness told police that he and the victim had just gotten out of school that day.
They went to a bodega on Tompkins Avenue, then headed for the park where they hung out for about 45 minutes, sources told The Post.
The witness told police he suddenly heard two shots and the victim dropped to the ground, according to the sources. He ran away and called 911.
Another witness said she was walking with her elderly mother when she saw the teen fall, blood streaming from his head. She did not see any shooters.
Mayor Eric Adams on Saturday vowed to find those responsible for the violence.
“Too many guns, too many people who are dangerous are allowed to have guns, and they are, often, extreme recidivists who are clearly coming on our streets,” the mayor declared at a city hiring event downtown. “This … really breaks my heart to have a 13-year-old child shot … we will find the people responsible.”
Friday’s shooting occurred as major crimes soared 38% this year through May 14 in Staten Island’s North Shore 120th Precinct compared to the same time last year, NYPD data shows.
Specifically, murders have gone up to 250% to a total of seven, while robberies and felony assaults also rose.
The NYPD’s 120th Precinct Detective Squad is investigating the shooting alongside the Staten Island Homicide Squad.
