An 8-year-old girl was hit with bullet fragments in a drive-by shooting early Sunday morning on Heath Street in Jamaica Plain.
The Boston Globe reports that fragments hit the girl's shoulder and grazed her side. She was expected to be released from the hospital Sunday.
Fifteen rounds were fired in the shooting, and Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans said the girl, reportedly a student at the nearby Hennigan School, was lucky her injuries were not worse given the number of rounds fired.
“We’re very fortunate. We could be talking about a young, 8-year-old child being buried,” he said. “But again, everyone has to step up. I know issues like this really wake people up. The whole community’s got to work with us.”
Officers responded shortly after midnight to reports that someone had been shot on Heath Street, Evans said.
The girl’s mother was standing in front of the doorway to her boyfriend’s apartment, using a hose to remove blue marker from the concrete outside when the shots rang out, said the boyfriend, Mariano Caribe, 55. He said he was sweeping the run-off into a drain. The girl had been drawing on the concrete with the marker shortly before the shooting.
Caribe said he watched his girlfriend grab the girl and pull her into his home.
He heard the girl yell: “I got shot! I got shot!”
Two bullets hit the doorway, and one nearly went clean through the door, he said. Her family called 911.
Officers have not released a description of any suspects, but Evans said a dark gray Infiniti vehicle was seen fleeing the scene. Anybody with information about the individual or vehicle involved in the shooting can call the Boston Police tip linen at 1-800-494-TIPS.
Read the full Boston Globe story for more on the shooting and neighbors' reactions.