NYC Boy Hit by Stray Bullet While Celebrating 5th Birthday

A boy who started Monday celebrating his 5th birthday ended the day fighting for his life in the hospital after being hit in the head by a stray bullet. The boy, identified by the New York Daily News as Jaheen Hunter, was hospitalized in critical condition after the shooting in the Bronx's Morrisania neighborhood. Police say he had been visiting his father and was hit by the bullet about 5pm, when the father was taking the boy to his car to drive him back to his mother. Two men were arguing on the sidewalk and Jaheen was hit when one of the men pulled out a gun and fired four shots, police say. The father rushed the boy to St. Barnabas Hospital.

Police sources tell the Daily News that surveillance video shows the frightened boy trying to back away after getting caught between the two shouting men. "A male Hispanic in his 20s fired at least four shots at an unidentified male, black, at this same location. One of those shots struck the child," a police spokesman said, per ABC7. No arrests have been made, but police say they are questioning a person of interest to the investigation. In a statement, Mayor Bill de Blasio called the shooting "absolutely heartbreaking" and said the city's prayers are with the boy and the doctors working to save his life, NBC New York reports. (More Bronx stories.)