Growing concerns over gun violence in the Bronx after shootings involving kids, innocent bystanders
MELROSE, The Bronx (WABC) -- There's growing concern about the escalating gun violence in the Bronx after several people, all innocent victims, have been caught in the crossfire in recent days.
In Morrisania on Monday,16-year-old Evette Jeffrey was shot and killed next to a school, after an argument between a group of boys. A 14-year-old boy is now under arrest and charged with murder. Police are still searching for a 12-year-old boy suspected of handing him the murder weapon, which has not been recovered.
In the Melrose section on Tuesday night, two people were injured, including an 11-year-old boy, when two gunmen opened fire on another group.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, there was an emotional balloon release, amid the pain of a mother, who has to now bury her only child.
"We were waiting for her to come home actually, and she didn't respond to me," said Jeffrey's mother, Kristen Abad.
Her daughter was riding a scooter near a playground Monday afternoon outside of P.S. 158, Bronx Latin Intermediate School, when she was struck in the head by a stray bullet.
"Some people are just careless. Some people don't give a damn about life," Abad said.
The next day, just blocks away in the Melrose neighborhood, near the police precinct, officers responded to a shot out window, from a bullet, that grazed an 11-year-old boy.
The NYPD says the alleged shooter that killed Jeffrey was just 14.
Jeffrey is just one of 28 teenagers under the age of 18 who have been shot so far this year.
In the Bronx alone, shooting victims in the same age range jumped 200% percent compared to 2018, the same year New York State's "Raise the Age" law took effect, which meant minors under 18 would typically no longer be charged as adults.
In a radio interview on Wednesday, Mayor Eric Adams sounded off.
"We have to lean back into giving families the support that they deserve, and I've been focused on that," he said.
Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson is in support of the state's Raise the Age law.
"New York and North Carolina were the only two states left," Gibson said. "And so, we were behind compared to many other states. So, I understand why it happened. I think for many of the laws that we passed, especially as a lawmaker, myself, former member of the assembly, that there are sometimes unintended consequences as a result of our good intentions."
Gibson also says she has a youth council team that reaches out to many of the teenagers in the area, to help keep them out of trouble and off the streets.
----------
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
