A 14-year-old boy has died after being shot in the head on a Harlem street Tuesday afternoon in a targeted attack, police said.
A 15-year-old boy accompanying him was also shot in the leg and is in stable condition.
The 14-year-old boy, identified as Justin Streeter of Plainfield, NJ, died at Harlem Hospital, a spokesman for the New York Police Department said.
Jeffrey G. Maddrey, chief of patrol for the Police Department, said at a news conference Tuesday, the boys stopped at a food stall on 128 East Street just before 4:30 p.m. and were heading home. on Park Avenue when the shooting occurred. Sheriff Maddrey said the 14-year-old boy was riding a scooter and the unidentified 15-year-old boy was walking.
As the boys headed west toward Park Avenue, a gunman appeared and began shooting at them in what Sheriff Maddrey said appeared to be a targeted attack.
Trying to escape the gunfire, the two boys ran between two cars, the sheriff said. The 14-year-old fell to the ground and the 15-year-old continued to run. Officers dealing with the area first encountered the 15-year-old boy and then discovered the 14-year-old boy while they were cordoning off the scene, he said.
Both boys were taken to hospital, where the 14-year-old was later pronounced dead.
Detectives are in the early stages of investigating the shooting and have not yet identified a suspect or established what relationship, if any, he has with his intended victims, the sheriff said.
Sheriff Maddrey condemned the attack and called on New Yorkers to help police catch the shooter.
“We shouldn’t be afraid to walk out into the street in broad daylight feeling like we’re about to become a victim of gun violence,” he said.
Derrick Bryson Taylor contribution report.
