Teen Charged As Bronx Girl Recovers From Shooting

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -A suspect has been arrested and charged in a shooting that wounded a 5-year-old girl in the Bronx.

Police said Angel Morales, 18, of the 600 block of East 179th Street in the Bronx, was charged with attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon in the early Sunday shooting that wounded Hailey Dominguez.

Hailey was last listed in stable, but guarded, condition at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital after being wounded in the abdomen, police said.

1010 WINS' Gene Michaels reports

The shooting happened around 1 a.m. in the courtyard of a building on 1997 Hughes Ave. in the Tremont section of the Bronx, according to police.

Hailey was accompanied by adult relatives at the time of the shooting.

Police sources told 1010 WINS that the child was shot one time while standing with a group of people, one of whom had a previous argument with someone.

The person involved in that argument apparently came back to get revenge and fired the shot, police sources said.

It is unclear who the intended target was, according to police.

A witness said she heard shouting just before three shots were fired.

"It was a little girl screaming 'mommy, mommy,'" a neighbor told 1010 WINS' Gene Michaels. "There was a lady screaming and there was a man yelling 'get back in the house, get back in the house!'"

Community activist Sidney Flores said a shooting happened in the same location last year.

"That's a shame. I was here for a shooting last year and they didn't have these cameras up," Flores said. "So hopefully these cameras that are up today will catch somebody."

Another neighbor who also has a 5-year-old daughter said the community has seen a recent uptick in gun violence that has her concerned.

"Oh God no, that's incredible," the woman told Michaels. "Everything is about drugs."

The first officers who responded to the shooting scene transported Hailey in their police cruiser to St. Barnabas Hospital.

Once the girl was stabilized, she was transported by EMS to Columbia Presbyterian, police said.

Investigators have been working to piece together exactly what happened in the courtyard of the building that led to the shooting.

No one else was injured in the shooting, police said.

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