Family describes 'horror' after 7-year-old girl shot outside home on Long Island

Monday, March 28, 2022
Family describes 'horror' after 7-year-old girl shot outside home on Long Island
Naveen Dhaliwal has more from Hempstead.

HEMPSTEAD, Long Island (WABC) -- A 7-year-old girl is recovering at home after being shot in the arm on Long Island.

The girl's grandmother, Patricia Murphy spoke to Eyewitness News about the horror that unfolded Saturday afternoon right in front of her home in Hempstead.

Gunshots rang out just before 3 p.m. on Evans Avenue.

"My daughter is out there screaming, telling her baby to run," said Murphy.

Panic set in when Murphy realized her granddaughter was hit while playing in the backyard.

"She's on the ground screaming, 'help me, help! They shot me, why would they shoot me?'" added Murphy.

She immediately brought the child inside.

"I stripped her, checked her - seen she had a big hole in her arm from the gunshot wound," said Murphy, "my son wrapped her arm to apply pressure."

The young girl is now back home but is left traumatized. Her grandmother says she had nightmares all through the night.

Murphy also says she is even too afraid to be home at night.

"That area is like a war zone. I can't be there, I can't live there," she adds.

Police say the shooting is an ongoing investigation. They are still looking for the shooter, the intended target, and the motive behind the gunfire.

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