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Woman critically injured after being shot in head in Brooklyn

Woman shot in head at Brooklyn playground
Woman shot in head at Brooklyn playground 01:50

NEW YORK -- A woman is in critical condition after being shot in the head at a Brooklyn playground in broad daylight.

The gunfire erupted directly behind Junior High School 278 in Marine Park, prompting students to go on lockdown for hours.

"It's very scary for me," Marine Park resident Vivan Antebi said.

"See a girl bleeding through the head, falling to the floor," Marine Park resident Joey Demayo said.

As CBS2's Alecia Reid reports, police say Shatyra Wingate was found sitting on a bench. The 25-year-old mother was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she's listed in critical condition.

"Investigators right now are investigating the cause of the gunshot," NYPD assistant chief Michael Kemper said.

A man who witnesses say is Wingate's child's father was apprehended by police at Nostrand and Avenue V, and the child is now in the care of authorities.

"He took off to Nostrand housing projects, and they got him over there," Demayo said.

The gunfire sparked confusion at the school adjacent to the playground. Frustrated parents had to wait hours to pick their children up from the Millennium after-school program.

"The parents definitely should have been notified that something like this happened. I shouldn't have to be calling everyone to find out what's going on," parent Daniel Rose said.

The Department of Education said in a statement, "The safety of our students is our absolute top priority. Following an off-campus non-school related incident in the community, this school went into a shelter-in, which has now been lifted."

Some parents had no idea if students were in danger.

"They're sometimes outside, and it's still warm, so they do be out in that specific yard that the incident did happen," parent Shakiel Maingot said.

"We was all, like, shook and everything, then after the fact we started to calm down," one student said.

Police continue to question the man they're calling a person of interest but say no arrest has been made.

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