16-year-old innocent bystander shot and killed near NYC school: Police

A 16-year-old innocent bystander was shot and killed by a 14-year-old after a fight broke out between a group of teenagers near a school building in New York City, officials said.

“Our city has suffered another senseless tragedy tonight,” NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a press conference.

At approximately 5:05 p.m. on Monday, police responded to 911 calls of a female who was shot near the Bronx Latin School in the Bronx.

Once officials arrived on the scene, they found a 16-year-old victim, later identified as Evette Jeffrey, to be “unconscious and unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the head,” the NYPD said in a statement.

Jeffrey was transported to Lincoln Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead, Tisch said.

“She should be home right now eating dinner with her family, but instead we are talking about another child victim of gun violence,” Tisch said.

Video recovered from the school showed a group of children leaving the schoolyard and entering a walkway alongside the building, when a fight broke out, officials said.

A 14-year-old male wearing a white T-shirt and shorts was punched in the face by another male, who then proceeded to punch several other people in the crowd, police said.

Someone handed a pistol to the 14-year-old, who then proceeded to run up to the male who attacked him, officials said. The teen then fired three rounds of gunfire into the crowd, officials said.

In the video footage, Jeffrey is seen riding from the schoolyard toward the walkway on a scooter, police said. She “does not engage in the fight,” but walks over to another male at the edge of the group who “attempts to pull her behind a brick wall for cover,” officials said.

Despite the male’s efforts in shielding her, Jeffrey was shot in the head and immediately fell to the ground, police said.

Jeffrey, who had just turned 16 this month, was a student at nearby Morris High School, officials said. Her grandmother told New York ABC station WABC that she will “never forgive” the suspected shooter or anyone involved in the death of her granddaughter.

The 14-year-old alleged shooter was taken into custody by police on Tuesday, according to WABC.

“You can say you’re sorry a million times, I will never forgive you, any of you,” the grandmother said.

Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson said Jeffrey’s mother is “absolutely inconsolable.”

“She got the worst phone call that no parent should ever get, that her child was shot while she was here at a playground after school,” Gibson said during the press conference Monday evening. “We just recognized Mother’s Day yesterday, and now this mother has lost her child. This is a parent that will never be the same again.”

Tisch said shooting victims under the age of 18 went up 200% in the Bronx in 2024 compared to 2018.

“These are babies killing babies and it has to stop,” Tisch said.

Mayor Eric Adams, who was also at the scene of the incident on Monday speaking to reporters and concerned parents, described the loss as an “unimaginable tragedy” on X.

“I don’t even know what to say when a shooting like this occurs,” Adams said on X. “Us parents must continue to do everything in our power to make sure our kids cannot access guns.”