Investigators have identified two men suspected of shooting a 5-year-old girl in the back outside a Bronx memorial held for another victim of gun violence.
Bronx residents Austin Morrishow, 25, and Curtis White, 26, were amid the group gathered Friday at E. 214th St. and Holland Ave to memorialize shooting victim Justin Rodriguez when the sound of a backfiring Volkswagen Jetta led them to reach for their firearms, according to NYPD Assistant Chief Joseph Kennedy.
As the pair opened fire, a stray bullet passed through a gold Nissan idling nearby and struck 5-year-old Zamayia Miles in the back, Kennedy said.
Both suspects have a criminal history, and Morrishow is a suspected member of the Mac Ballers Gang, according to the assistant chief.
Zamayia’s father, who was in the driver seat at the time of the shooting, put the pedal to the metal and fled the scene only to stop outside a nearby laundromat after realizing his daughter had been hit, a witness told the Daily News.
“Please! Please! Help! Help!” witness Zoila Peguero recalled the father screaming as he held his wounded daughter in his arms.
Zamayia was rushed to Montefiore Medical Center, where she’s recovering, her mother, Shanise Miles, said. No other injuries were reported.
“She’s aware of what’s going on. And thankfully she is now stable,” Miles said. “This shouldn’t have happened to her. I’m devastated.”
No arrests have been made yet.
The memorial marked a shooting at E. 213th St. and Holland Ave. at 12:30 a.m. on Thursday that took Rodriguez’s life.
The victim showed up wounded at Montefiore Medical Center and died from gunshot wounds to his chest and shoulder. A second man, 34, was shot in the leg and is expected to survive, cops said.
The gunman who killed Rodriguez remained at large Monday.
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