16-Year-Old Girl Randomly Shot In Queens Has Bullet Lodged Near Artery
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - As police question suspects in a pair of shootings in Queens, a teenage girl who survived one of those shootings is still in the hospital.
One of the stray bullets fired hit a 16-year-old girl and remains lodged in her shoulder, reports CBS2's Nick Caloway.
When shots rang out Monday outside a school in Jamaica, Queens, Ashley Ermoogan was apparently in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Police say she was not the intended target. The girl's family says doctors were unable to perform surgery to remove the bullet because it is too close to an artery.
"We were shocked about it," said neighbor Carl Gookool. "Yesterday I was shocked to hear that was my neighbor."
Gookool has lived next door to the Ermoogan family for years and is close with Ashley's parents.
"I know for a parent what they are going through," he said. "So it's a pretty sad case."
The 16-year-old is at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in stable condition. The family says she is expected to be hospitalized for some time.
Police are investigating the possible connection between Monday's shooting that left Ashely injured and another shooting Saturday two miles away where a stray bullet killed 14-year-old Aamir Griffin as he was playing basketball near the Baisley Park Houses.
Police released video of three persons of interest wanted for questioning in both of the crimes. Investigators say the shootings may have stemmed from an ongoing feud between two groups of teens.
"What we have is two groups, tend to be young kids, 15 to 16 is the ages that keep coming up fighting each other," said NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea. "There have been a number of incidents. Those two cases that you referenced are very active investigations at this point and we'll have more further."
On Tuesday, a young man walked into the 113th precinct station house in Queens saying he knew police were looking for him.
