Gun Violence In New York City: 5-Year-Old Boy Shot In Head By Stray Bullets On His Birthday

Just days after the National Gun Violence Awareness Day, a five-year old boy was shot in the head by a stray bullet in the Bronx in New York City (NYC) on late Monday, media reports said.

The boy, who sources identified as Jaheen Hunter was celebrating his birthday with his father. The incident took place as they were leaving the father's apartment to go to his mother at about 5 p.m. EDT, New York Daily News reported citing the police.

The police said the boy was hit once in the head and is currently in a critical condition in hospital.

Read: Terrorism Not To Blamed For Orlando Shooting, Says Report

“There were four shots, boom, boom, boom, boom,” said Victor Hernandez, 59, who works in the deli across the street from where the incident happened, reports said.

A woman from the neighborhood said she heard the two gunmen shouting while exchanging fire.

“One was screaming, ‘You’re a dead f------ man, a dead f------ man!’” the woman recalled hearing.

“A male Hispanic in his 20s fired at least four shots at an unidentified male black,” Assistant Chief Larry Nikunin said, according to CBS New York. “Detectives are currently conducting a canvass for video and witnesses and are attempting to identify a shooter in this incident,” he added.

Shootings are still witnessed in NYC despite authorities saying the number of shootings have decreased compared to earlier years. It still remains a concern for the police, reports said. Till Dec. 4, the city had recorded 313 killings, close to the 333 seen in 2014, according to NBC New York.

For the relatively lesser number of shootings that take place now in NYC, the police partly gives credit to its refined tactics that include collection of more data and forensic evidence than before to catch the worst offenders in the city.

"It's no longer good enough to just make an arrest," NBC New York reported citing Deputy Commissioner Durmot Shea, a top New York Police Department crime-fighting strategist. He added police were also trying to focus more on the kind of arrests that make a difference. For instance, by targeting lesser number of culprits responsible for making neighborhoods unsafe.

Although, occasional shootings do take place in the city, major crimes continued to drop in the month of May in NYC, according to the latest police data released Monday, a report said.

In May, the city saw a 7.6 percent reduction in index crimes — serious felonies like homicide, burglary and robbery — compared with the same period in 2016, NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill said at a news conference Monday.

There has been a 5.6 percent reduction overall for serious crimes so far in 2017 compared to last year, said Dermot Shea, the department’s chief of crime control strategies. Reductions occurred in all major crime categories and in all boroughs, he added.