NEW YORK CITY – A 20-year-old woman was fatally shot Wednesday night while pushing a stroller with a 3-month-old baby inside in New York City.
Police say the victim was walking in Manhattan’s Upper East Side around 8:25 p.m. when a man wearing a black hoodie and sweatpants approached her from behind and shot her in the head.
“I just heard a huge noise. It was just one, but it was extremely loud, like, ‘Boom!’” a 10-year-old child told ABC 7 in New York. “I seen a lot of people running, and then I saw a few people. Like, I saw a woman down there, she fell. And at first I thought, ‘Is she OK?’ And then I saw people calling 911 and cops pull up.”
The woman died about an hour after arriving at a local hospital.
Police said the baby was also taken to the hospital, but was unharmed.
The search is now on for the gunman, who took off.
The shooting comes as New York City deals with an uptick in crimes related to gun violence.
“When a mother is pushing a baby carriage down the block and is shot at point blank range, it shows just how this national problem is impacting families,” New York Mayor Eric Adams said. “We are going to find this person that is guilty of this horrific crime. We are going to find him and bring him to justice.”
A motive for the shooting remains unknown.