A woman pushing an infant in a stroller was fatally shot in the head on Wednesday on New York City’s Upper East Side.
An “unknown” suspect shot the woman “at very close range” on East 95th St. and Lexington Ave in Manhattan just after 8:20 p.m., NYPD Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell said at a press conference late Wednesday.
Multiple police sources told CNN that the woman is believed to be the 3-month-old baby’s mother. The baby was not harmed in the attack.
Authorities said the suspect is a male who was wearing a black hoody and black sweatpants when he fled the scene of the shooting on foot.
“We’re going to find this person that’s guilty of this horrific crime,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters. “We’re going to find him and bring him to justice … to make sure that innocent person receives that justice.”
“A woman is pushing a baby carriage down the block and is shot in point blank range. It shows just how this national problem is impacting families,” Adams continued, adding that “the oversaturation of guns, and dangerous people that repeatedly leave our criminal justice system” are to blame for the deadly shooting.
Also on Wednesday, New York State sued 10 gun distributors – including Brownells, Indie Guns, Primary Arms and Rock Slide – for allegedly flooding New York with ghost guns, which are untraceable firearms that users build themselves from kits.
“While families mourned loved ones lost to senseless gun violence, gun sellers avoided accountability for the illegal and dangerous weapons they sold,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement on the lawsuit. “Today’s lawsuit holds 10 gun sellers accountable for fueling the gun violence crisis and endangering New Yorkers.”
Indie Guns attorney Christian Waugh slammed the lawsuit as a “groundless attempt to once again burden and limit the rights of New York City residents.”
“[This] is absolutely a politically-motivated effort to vilify a small business that has violated no federal, state, or municipal law,” Waugh said in a statement to ABC News. “Craft guns are not a problem. Like cars or baseball bats, they are almost always used for legal purposes. Sometimes, they can be misused by a person with bad intent.”
The lawsuit comes just days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association when it decided that New York state violates the Second Amendment by requiring gunowners applying for concealed-carry licenses to prove they have a worthy need to carry guns in public.
