Suspects sought in shooting of 2 girls, aged 9 and 11, caught in crossfire at New York playground

The search continued Tuesday for two gunmen who opened fire on a man at a New York playground, hitting two children who were caught in the crossfire, police said.

The shooting in Brooklyn's Brownsville neighborhood broke out Monday evening as the girls, ages 9 and 11, were playing on a field at Hilltop Playground, according to New York City police investigators.

“Unfortunately, we are here on a beautiful spring evening to talk about yet another senseless act of gun violence directed against our most vulnerable young people,” said Deputy Chief Scott Henderson, commander of the Brooklyn North Patrol Division, during a press conference at the playground where the girls were shot.

The shooting broke out around 9:05 p.m. as the girls, whose names were not immediately released by police, were playing on the artificial turf of the playground's main field, Henderson said.

“A preliminary investigation reveals that there may have been two shooters who fired at least six rounds in the direction where the children were playing,” Henderson said. “At this time, we do not know who the intended target was.”

NYPD Deputy Chief John Mastronardi, commander of Detective Borough Brooklyn North, said the shooting happened in front of one of the girls' mothers.

“The mother of the 11-year-old child was watching from a park bench as the children played in the middle of the field,” Mastronardi said.

Security video reviewed by detectives showed two gunmen entering the playground and both opening fire on an as-yet-unidentified individual, but ended up hitting the girls in crossfire, Mastronardi said. He said that, based on preliminary evidence, the children were not the intended targets of the shooting.

No arrests have been announced and detectives are asking for the public's help in identifying the gunmen.

Mastronardi said the 9-year-old was shot in the right leg while the 11-year-old was shot in the back.

Family members took both girls to Brookdale Hospital, where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, Henderson said. He said the youngest child was then transferred to Maimonides Medical Center for further treatment.

The motive for the shooting was still under investigation.

“Right now, we are exploring multiple avenues to explain these types of incidents, but we are not going to rule out gang-related incidents that are problematic for this particular neighborhood in Brooklyn,” Mastronardi said.

He pointed to several pairs of shoes scattered around the playground, including those worn by the young victims.

Henderson said investigators recovered shell casings from two different caliber firearms at the scene.

“Our detectives will work diligently to apprehend the individuals responsible for this horrific act of violence,” Henderson said.

Parents and grandparents who frequent the park said the shooting left them worried about their children.

“I'm angry. I'm upset. I'm hurt because kids are in this park all the time. I was in the park with my grandson, who is one year old,” one resident told the station New York ABC, WABC. , adding that she knows one of the girls who was shot and saw her on the playground this weekend.

The young victims are among 324 children aged 11 or younger who were shot in incidents across the country in the first five months of the year, 94 of whom were killed, according to Gun Violence Archive, a website Web that tracks all shootings in the United States. .