Mother, Son Struck By Vehicle While Running From Nearby Shooting In The Bronx
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Two women were shot, and another woman and her child were struck by a car during the ensuing commotion in a chaotic scene in the Bronx that sent bystanders running for their lives late Friday.
As CBS2's Dave Carlin reported, police said a young shooter was still on the run Saturday.
"I hope they catch him," said Nicole Jaudon.
It happened along 173rd Street in the Soundview section of the Bronx. Police responded to reports of multiple shots fired just after 11 p.m. An employee at a nearby deli remembers hearing the chaos unfold.
"We see everybody running all over, running right and left," Ibrahim Kassim tells CBS2's Erin Logan.
Kassim said shortly after, one of the victims, who was shot in both legs, collapsed right in front of him. She was identified as Shania Johnson, 31.
"A lot of people were trying to help her and stop the bleeding and I called 911 and then I called the ambulance then everybody came and they took her," Kassim said.
Police said Johnson's friend Samantha Austin, also 31, was shot in the arm and back. Both were taken to area hospitals were stable late Saturday, according to police.
Police believe the women the intended targets.
"She was right here laying right there and the other one was right there," Jaudon said.
While Johnson an Austin were being loaded in to ambulances, police officers searched a nearby park where the suspect was seen running.
Witness Jesse Rivera was in the park, where police were asking questions after the chaos.
"Heard about, like, eight shots around the corner here, some girls got shot around the mechanic. The cops came into the park to see if anybody came running through the park," he said.
Meanwhile, just blocks away on East 174th Street and Vyse Avenue, a 31-year-old mother and her three-year-old son were struck by a car as they were running down the street after hearing the shots fired.
The mother and her child were both rushed to NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi with non-life threatening injuries. The driver of the car that hit them remained on the scene.
Police told CBS2 they linked the shooting the accident because the gunshots were heard by the mother and child, scaring them in a way that could have made them rush in to the path of the car.
The driver stayed on the scene, so there is no criminality involved, according to police.
Police say the shooting victims are all expected to be okay as they look for the a 16-year-old who allegedly did not know his two victims.
