Gunman on scooter missed intended victim; killed 11-year-old girl, police say

Girl killed by stray bullet ran into nail salon

A stray bullet struck and killed an 11-year-old girl in the Longwood section of the Bronx. Witnesses say the child ran into a nail salon after the shooting.

NEW YORK - Police were searching for the person who fired a gun on a busy street striking and killing Kyhara Tayl, 11, in the Longwood section of the Bronx. The gunman was on a scooter and missed his intended target.

Kyhara was with family near Westchester Avenue and Fox Street when gunfire erupted at about 4:50 p.m. Monday striking her in the abdomen, police said. The girl then ran into a nail salon where she passed out, according to witnesses.

Two men on a scooter were chasing another man who was running away on foot, police said. One man on the scooter opened fire at the man on the street but missed, Assistant Chief Philip Rivera said at a news conference.

"The passenger on the scooter began to shoot at the male," Rivera said. "One round traveled down Fox Street and struck an 11-year-old, who was standing in front of 993 Fox Street."

11-year-old girl fatally shot in the Bronx

The NYPD said that an 11-year-old girl who was shot in the Bronx on Monday was a bystander. She was taken to Lincoln Hospital where she died.

Officers who responded to the shooting helped get the girl into an ambulance, which rushed her to Health and Hospitals/Lincoln in critical condition, Rivera said.

A few hours later, the NYPD said the girl had died.

Security Video: Gunman on scooter

The NYPD released this video from a security camera showing two men on a scooter chasing a man on a sidewalk in the Bronx; the scooter passenger then fires one shot but misses. Police said he hit an 11-year-old girl who was a bystander.

The men on the scooter and the man who was fleeing them got away. Police are hoping to identify and find them. Assistant Chief Timothy McCormack said police will try to track down the scooter but it is "extremely difficult and time-consuming."

"It is troubling that this is happening in our society today, when the NYPD, we know how to fight crime and we're doing it with the best of our ability," McCormack said. "I think the other part of the criminal justice system need to step up and take the responsibility for what's going on."

A makeshift memorial was set up on Fox Street where people gathered to remember Kyhara.