The New York City Police Department (NYPD) have arrested a teenager, who is suspected of shooting a 5-year-old girl in front of her Bronx apartment building, early Sunday morning.
Hailey Dominguez and her mother, 34-year-old Gloria Miranda, were returning from a baby shower around 1:00 a.m. As they were walking toward their apartment on Hughes Avenue in the Tremont section of the Bronx, a group of men approached a nearby street corner and began shooting at rivals in a nearby building.
Hailey’s stepfather, Jose Rosario, said the bullet hit the girl in the stomach, and just missed her spinal cord and ribs. The bullet pierced her lung, but the girl did not cry during the ordeal.
“We did not know she got shot,” Keyla Rosario, Hailey’s 15-year-old sister, told the New York Post. “We were crying, not her.”
Keyla Rosario said her sister was a “very brave person.”
Hailey was still wearing her party dress from the baby shower when she was shot.
Hailey was immediately taken by police to St. Barnabas Hospital before being transferred to Columbia Presbyterian. She was listed in stable condition after being placed in an induced coma. She is expected to make a full recovery.
Hailey’s father, Jonathan Dominguez, said, “I do not know why this happened. She is going to be okay, thank God.”
Neighbor Carmen Rosario called 911 after she heard the gun shots. She said she saw the little girl clutching herself when she opened the door.
“She wasn’t crying,” Rosario said. “I sat next to her for a few minutes and right away the officers came. The officers opened her coat and they saw blood and they took off.”
Eighteen-year-old Angel Morales was arrested and charged with attempted murder.
The investigation remains ongoing.
All charges are merely accusations and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Anyone with information related 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). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers‘ website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
All tips will be kept strictly confidential.
