NEW YORK — Gunfire took the life of a 16-year-old girl outside a Bronx high school Friday when she and two other teens were hit by bullets fired in a dispute between “brazen criminals,” New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said.
The dead teen was “a young woman with a bright future,” said Sewell.
The victims were not the intended targets of the shooting, police said.
The shooting erupted near University Heights High School’s South Bronx Campus on East 156th Street near St. Ann’s Avenue at about 1:40 p.m., police said.
The shooter was standing on the southeast corner of the intersection arguing with someone across the street, police said.
The gunman pulled out a gun and fired off six shots, striking two 16-year-old girls and a 17-year-old boy walking home from school, police and sources said.
A superintendent at a nearby building heard the gunfire and ran downstairs where he spotted the wounded teens.
“The kids were coming from South Bronx High School,” said the superintendent, who asked not to be named. “The girl dropped by a red car and was dead. The other girl dropped further up the block. The other boy was hit but he wasn’t bad.”
The man watched helplessly as the fatally wounded girl’s mother arrived at the grisly scene.
“The dead girl’s mother ... the way she was screaming broke my heart. The first thing you think of is your own kids and you start bawling,” he said as he fought back tears. “It’s crazy out here.”
The fatally shot 16-year-old was hit in the chest. She was rushed to Lincoln Hospital but could not be saved.
The other 16-year-old girl was shot in the shin and the 17-year-old boy was shot in the buttocks, police said. They were taken to the same hospital in stable condition.
The mortally wounded victim attended University Prep High School, a charter school a block away, School Safety sources said.
The other victims attend Mott Haven Village Prep High School, which is one of several schools in the South Bronx Educational Campus around the corner from the shooting, according to the sources.
None of the victims was immediately identified.
Police were scouring surveillance footage to identify the shooter Friday afternoon, police said.
There were no immediate arrests.
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