Surveillance footage caught a heroic female cop running through Times Square while carrying a 4-year-old child who suffered a gunshot wound during a shooting in New York City on Saturday.
In the video, the unidentified female cop can be seen sprinting down a packed Broadway with the youngest victim of the weekends’ gun violence in her arms until she reaches a nearby ambulance.
“Whether [officers are] rushing toward the danger to help save a little girl or rushing home to family after their tour this #MothersDay — the dedication of NY’s Finest knows no bounds,’’ NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller tweeted Sunday, sharing footage of the determined police officer’s heroism.
The child, later identified as Skye Martinez, was struck in the left leg while waiting for her family outside a toy store, the New York Post reported. The young girl was transported to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan where she is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Martinez was one of three innocent bystanders who were shot during a fight between the gunman and several other men.
“Once they went over was when they started shooting, so we ran and didn’t notice that my niece got hit until we were at the corner and we could see that she was bleeding,” the child’s aunt Danae Romero, 16, told the Post Sunday.
“She’s pretty tough, I guess. She’s always been happy. There aren’t many times when she cries and stuff,” Romero added.
According to Fox News, the suspect responsible for the shooting in Times Square is still at large. The New York Police Department released video of the gunman after Saturday’s incident, showing a man in dark-colored pants and white, yellow and red shirt with the number 9.
“WANTED in connection to shooting three people near West 44th Street and 7th Avenue in Manhattan on May 8, 2021,” NYPD News tweeted. “@NYPDDetectives need anyone with information about the identity or whereabouts of this individual to contact @NYPDTips at #800577TIPS. All calls are anonymous.”
Sources told the news outlet that the suspect is 31-year-old Farrakhan Muhammad.
Following the shooting, the officer who saved Martinez was called a hero on social media.
“Thank you to this ‘hero’ cop,” one user tweeted. “I guarantee to you this poor little 4-year old girl doesn’t want to defund the police…”
“Every day heroes!” another user wrote. “Thankful for the thin, blue line.”
“That’s why the NYPD is referred to as “Finest” – It’s really for a reason. This officer epitomizes that,” a third Twitter user said.
