‘This Is Not Fair’: Teen Victim, Family Members of Others Shot in Bronx Speak Out

A teenage victim who was one of the five people hit by gunfire in a Bronx shooting is speaking out about her “terrifying” ordeal.

It was just before 4 p.m. on Wednesday when 19-year-old Mandy, who did not wish to have her last name shared, was walking along East 152nd Street and Courtlandt Avenue in the Melrose as she was looking to buy a bathing suit for an upcoming holiday trip, according to her mother.

She never got the chance to pick anything out, however, as she was unexpectedly struck in the leg by a bullet. Surveillance video showed a gunman running toward someone before firing at least five times in broad daylight. A 10-year-old and 14-year-old were also shot, along with two other adults.

Spending Thanksgiving in the hospital wasn’t how Mandy pictured her holiday going, but that’s exactly what she’s had to do after undergoing hours of surgery.

“I had a bullet in my joint … and I had to get surgery in my knee,” she said from a hospital bed. “This is not fair. For something like this to happen to someone like me just walking down the street.”

Mindy dragged herself to a nearby liquor store for cover after realizing she was bleeding. Her mother, Glenda, called her daughter “another innocent victim of the things that happen daily here in the Bronx.”

The mother of another victim told NBC New York said that her 14-year-old son was walking to pick up his sister from school when he was also hit by the gunfire. He told his mother the bullet felt like it was burning in his body.

“He was going to pick up his sister…a block over!” Tasha Lane said of her son, Elijah. “This is too much. Shooting? For what? My kid got caught (in the gunfire), for what?”

Thankfully Mandy, Elijah and the three other victims are expected to recover, with Mandy saying she expects to be released from the hospital on Friday. Elijah’s mother said she was just happy she got to spend the holiday with her son, because it could have been so much worse.

“I feel blessed. He’s alive, I’m spending (Thanksgiving) with him. Because it could’ve went different,” Lane said. “I’m just upset we’re not at home, we’re at a hospital, but I’m blessed that he’s here.”

The man seen on surveillance video firing the gun has not been caught, but police believe three men have been involved. An investigation is ongoing, and anyone who may have information regarding the men seen in the surveillance video is urged to contact the NYPD.