NYPD still searching for person of interest in Times Square shooting that injured 3, including girl
The NYPD continues to look for the suspect who shot three people, including a 4-year-old girl, after an argument in Times Square.
TIMES SQUARE, Manhattan (WABC) -- The NYPD is still searching for the gunman who shot three, including a 4-year-old child, in Times Square over the weekend.
Authorities say the person of interest, 31-year-old Farrahkan Muhammad, was targeting his brother after a dispute that turned into a shooting.
On Saturday afternoon, police say they have Muhammad on video, shooting indiscriminately into a crowd of people at 45th Street and 7th Avenue.
Instead, three innocent bystanders were shot, including a 4-year-old girl who was out toy shopping with her parents, and a tourist from Rhode Island, and a 43-year-old woman.
Muhammad is known to frequent the area, passing off bootleg CDs. He has been arrested twice in the past year.
On March 17, 2018, he was arrested for aggravated harassment in Midtown and on March 14, 2020, he was arrested for assault in Midtown.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday the three victims are out of the hospital and "it looks like they will make a stronger recovery."
"We saw a really painful incident in times square Saturday, horrible and unacceptable," the mayor said. "I want to thank all the men and women of NYPD, immediately on the scene to protect everyone there and address the situation. Thank God of the three people who were hit by the gunfire are all out of the hospital and it looks like they will make a strong recovery."
De Blasio said "this kind of thing should not not happen in our city, and that there's a lot of ways we can address it."
"Some of them we can do here, some of them we need help from elsewhere, just like Vision Zero," he said. "We need congress to help us to stop the flow of guns into NYC. This is one thing we've needed for the longest time, it always looked impossible, now it actually looks possible. In a country where tragically every day we read about mass shootings might have the moment in history where Congress finally acts and gets guns out of the hands of people who should not have them. That step should help us change the overall reality."
Alyssa Vogel was identified by police as the officer carrying the child to the ambulance. She spoke out about the incident on "GMA."
The 4-year-old underwent surgery and is expected to be OK.
Her grandmother expressed gratitude to Eyewitness News on Monday that the young girl was already out of the hospital.
Eyewitness News caught up with 23-year-old tourist Wendy Magrinot on the phone.
She said she thought she was going to die.
"I was able to run like five steps and I told my mom to take the baby and run," Magrinot said. "I saw a police officer and I screamed to him, 'I'm shot, I have a 2 year old, I don't want to die, please help me."
She also says she has no plans to return to New York City anytime soon.
Marcela Aldana, who was shopping with her daughter when she was shot, said her prognosis is good, but she has no idea when she can return to work to provide for her family.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the shooting was "more damaging" because it is higher profile.
"Times Square, high publicity, more people have heard about it," Cuomo said. "Times Square is a tourist destination. Times square is iconic New York City. Was it more damaging? Yes, only because it communicated to more people."
Cuomo added that real New Yorkers already "know there is a crime problem."
"Did it tell the people of NYC anything new," Cuomo asked. "No, no, that's why this is all a game. You take the subway, you know there is a crime problem. You live in NYC, you watch any newspaper, watch any news show for the past months, you know there is a crime problem. And now it happened in Times Square that may translate to more tourists, but i don't think it made a difference for New Yorkers."
New York has some of the most stringent gun laws in the country, but Police Commissioner Dermot Shea says more is needed.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
RELATED: Times Square shooting renews calls for change to curb violence
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