Suspect Sought After Boy, 13, Shot In The Head In Brooklyn
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A manhunt is underway in Brooklyn after a shooting Monday that left a 13-year-old boy seriously injured.
It happened around noon on Beverley Road and Flatbush Avenue.
Gama Droiville, 13, was waiting for the bus with his aunt and cousin when police said a gunman opened fire on the sidewalk, aiming for another man.
Suspect Sought After Boy, 13, Shot In The Head In Brooklyn
"I heard eight to nine gunshots," one witness said. "It was crazy."
One of the bullets hit Droiville in the head, police said.
Sources told CBS 2 the gunman stalked his intended victim, waiting in a doorway until the 24-year-old man got off a dollar van, CBS 2's Dick Brennan reported.
The suspect was captured on an NYPD surveillance camera. Police said he can be seen running with a gun down by his side and then raising it as he moves off-screen.
Suspect Sought After Boy, 13, Shot In The Head In Brooklyn
As CBS 2's Hazel Sanchez reported, new surveillance video from Flatbush Wine and Liquor shows a woman and children running for cover after the shots rang out. Seconds later, Droiville can be seen hobbling into a pizza shop for help.
Rufino Salazar was working and tried to stop the teen's bleeding.
"I give him napkins to clean the blood," Salazar said. "There's a lot. Bleeding a lot. So that's it, and I call 911 and ambulance."
Fabiola Charles, who was working at the liquor store, ran into the pizza shop to try to help Droiville, too.
"He was like, 'I have faith in God, and I'm not going to die,'" Charles said.
Droiville was taken to Kings County Hospital in stable condition. Doctors fear he may never be able to see out of his right eye again, Brennan reported.
"He said, 'Auntie, I can't see, I can't see," the teen's father, Jimmy Marcel, told CBS 2's Weijia Jiang.
But Marcel said even after taking a bullet, his son was calm.
"The first thing he said was 'God helped me.' He told his aunt to relax. 'God is with me,'" Marcel said. "The second thing he said is, 'God is with me. I'm not going to die.'"
His family said Droiville is a loving big brother to two sisters and a star in the church choir. The boy's parents gave CBS 2 a photo of their son in his hospital bed so that viewers can see he's a fighter.
"He's really smart, intelligent, so we want to give God praise he's alive," Marcel said. "The doctors told us it was a blessing he's alive because it could have been worse."
The man who police believed to be the intended target was struck in the leg, authorities said. He was also hospitalized in stable condition.
Sources told CBS 2 the man told police he didn't see or recognize the shooter. He claims he only heard the shots, then felt a pain in his leg.
As 1010 WINS' Al Jones reported Tuesday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said its past time for senseless gun violence to end.
"This is not the movies. It is a real life incident that takes place when you discharge a gun," Adams said. "To the young man that shot in a crowded street. Your idiocy almost killed somebody. You are not a man. That was a punk boy move."
Investigators released surveillance photos and video of the suspect. He is described as a black male wearing a black-and-white-hooded sweatshirt with the word "ROC" and the front and back and "99" on both arms.
"The individual put his hood up after the shooting, but before the shooting, we got really good video of that," Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said. "Before the shooting, we've got a lot of video, and I would be willing to bet we'll make an arrest very quickly on that one."
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (8477), visit CrimeStoppers.com or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
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