New York Police Deputy Chief Michael Kemper says investigators are "asking for the public's help and assistance in helping us solve this case."
(CNN) --
A 12-year-old boy was killed while eating in a parked car in New York City, and a relative sitting with him was critically injured, when people in two other vehicles exchanged gunfire Thursday night. police said on Friday.
It appears the boy and his relative, a 20-year-old woman, were mistakenly caught exchanging fire in Brooklyn and were not the targets, a New York Police Department spokesman said Friday.
An 8-year-old girl who was in the vehicle with the boy and the woman was not injured, police said.
No arrests have been made and police are trying to find the people involved in the shooting.
This is one of the latest examples of gun violence in New York City, where statistics show crime is up in all major categories, including murder, rape, robbery and more.
Gun Deaths Outnumber Car Crashes in US, Study Says
"In fact, we ask for the public's help and assistance in helping us solve this case," said Michael Kemper, deputy chief of the New York Police Department in South Brooklyn, at a news conference Thursday night.
The driver, a Brooklyn woman, had stopped so she and the children could eat, and the shots were fired around 7:45 pm, police said at Thursday's news conference.
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The shots came from people in two dark-colored sedans, police said in a news release Friday.
"A preliminary investigation determined that the victims were eating in the vehicle" when the shooting occurred, the news release says.
The boy, in the front passenger seat, was shot more than once, including one in the head, police said Friday.
The woman in the driver's seat was also shot multiple times.
She was taken to a hospital, she underwent surgery on Thursday night and she is expected to survive, even though she was in critical condition, police said on Friday.
The uninjured girl was in the back seat, police said.
The names of the three were not released.
Joe Gulotta, deputy chief of the New York Police Department for the Southern Borough of Brooklyn, asked the public at a news conference Thursday night to call in tips about the two sedans that left the scene of the shooting.
New York Mayor Eric Adams said guns on city streets are a problem that needs to be fixed.
"It's time for it to stop," Adams said at the news conference.
"That's why we're here. We're going to do our job. We need everyone to help us end this senseless violence."
Last month, a controversial NYPD unit that was reactivated to fight rising gun violence took to the streets, promising significant training, and even new uniforms, to prevent aggressive and abusive police tactics. that had plagued its predecessor.
The so-called Neighborhood Security Teams, the latest version of units of plainclothes officers whose goal is to prosecute the use of firearms, will be deployed in some 25 neighborhoods that authorities say account for 80% of gun violence. of fire in the city.
When the unit is fully constituted, the specialized agents will be in 30 neighborhoods and in various public housing projects, according to municipal authorities.
The unit replaces the anti-crime team that was disbanded in 2020.
-- Rob Frehse and Mark Morales contributed reporting.
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