The district attorney's office announced on Tuesday that an 18-year-old Brooklyn man has been charged with attempted murder and attempted assault for allegedly opening fire in East New York early one April evening, grazing a 5-year-old girl in the head with a bullet as she played with her siblings on the sidewalk.
Around 5:45 pm on April 5, the victim was playing at the corner of Dumont and Montauk avenues when Omar Gelin fired at least six shots at an unidentified individual strolling on the sidewalk in the same area, according to prosecutors. The bullets missed their intended target, striking the young child just as she was leaving her mother's car.
Gelin, a resident of the same area, was apprehended more than three weeks after the shooting. He didn't have an attorney, according to the information given to NBC New York.
At Brookdale Hospital, the little girl was treated for a cut on the right side of her head. Gelin allegedly placed a pistol in the trunk of a car, got in the driver's seat, and drove away, according to surveillance footage collected by the NYPD.
Prosecutors claim that the Nissan Versa he was allegedly spotted driving belonged to his father. Gelin fled to South Carolina following the shooting and was apprehended on April 28 by cops from the NYPD's 75th Precinct, according to officials.
Gelin was released on $100,000 bail and is due back in court in late November. If convicted of the highest offence, he may face a sentence of up to 25 years in jail.
NEW: An 18-year-old Brooklyn man has been arraigned on an indictment in which he is charged with attempted murder and attempted assault for allegedly shooting a 5-year-old girl in the head as she played with her siblings on a sidewalk in East New York. https://t.co/sx2B1XV8nC pic.twitter.com/CgV7nXqbN8
— DA Eric Gonzalez (@BrooklynDA) June 8, 2021
Brooklyn District Attorney, Eric Gonzalez said in a statement on Tuesday that the offender is accused of opening fire several times in broad daylight with no regard for the people he was endangering.
The District Attorney added that it was a fortunate escape for the young girl who escaped death. None of her siblings were injured. He said that such irresponsible gun violence in Brooklyn, which far too often puts the lives of innocent bystanders in jeopardy, will not be tolerated and the prosecutors would fight to bring the defendant to justice.
The recent gun violence charge comes as the city mourns the death of a 10-year-old Queens kid who was shot to death just days before his birthday while in a house with his uncle. No one has been arrested. The boy's uncle, who is 29 years, was wounded in the shoulder and was sent to Jamaica Hospital for treatment.
