Bronx Shooting: 4-Year-Old Girl Shot During Dramatic Gunfight On Busy Street, Police Say

THE BRONX, NY — An unidentified 4-year-old girl was among the three people injured in an apparently pre-planned, broad-daylight gun duel outside a local pawn shop on East 167th Street late Wednesday morning, according to police.

"People agreed to be here, it looks like, because several cars pulled up" along 167th between Webster and Clay avenues around 11:30 a.m., "and an argument ensued," NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said in an urgent press briefing after the gunfight.

"During that argument, a fist fight broke out, at which point one male pulled out a gun and started shooting," Boyce said. Then "another male in a yellow shirt pulled out a 9mm — and he fired several rounds, too."

All the men involved fled the scene in two vehicles, Boyce said.

Around 17 bullets were fired in the three-on-three duel, he said — one of which grazed a 4-year-old girl in the back.

The little girl is expected to survive the shooting, according to the NYPD.

Two other men injured in the street fight — a 33-year-old shot in the leg, and a 57-year-old shot in the back — were also recovering Wednesday afternoon at nearby hospitals, and were also expected to live, police said.

"It's 12 o'clock in the middle of summer in the Bronx, so there were people walking by," Boyce said at the police press conference.

However, the little girl who was shot may not have been a bystander: In a sick twist, the NYPD's chief of detectives said an initial police investigation showed one or more of the men involved may have brought the little girl to the gunfight.

"We believe she was in one of the cars that fled the scene," Boyce said Wednesday.

This story has been updated. Lead image via Google Maps