NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A 10-year-old boy was shot and killed in the Rockaways on Saturday night, three days before his 11th birthday, police and his family said.
The NYPD released surveillance video Sunday afternoon of a suspect and a vehicle they were searching for in connection to the shooting that killed Justin Wallace.
Wallace was shot as he entered his 29-year-old cousin's home on Beach 45th Street in Edgemere around 9:30 p.m., according to police and his family.
Both Wallace and his cousin were at the front door of the home when someone fired shots, striking them both.
The boy's father, Albert Wallace, was in the basement and ran upstairs.
"I saw my son lay down at the door, curl up. And I said, 'Son, why are you here?' So I grab him up same time, and when I turn him over, I see this puddle of blood," he said.
Responding officers found Wallace with a gunshot wound to his chest. He was rushed to Saint John's Episcopal Hospital but did not survive.
His cousin was shot in the shoulder and was in stable condition at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, police said.
The shooting followed an argument between the cousin and a neighbor, but police sources said it's unclear if that's connected to the shooting.
Wallace would have turned 11 years old on Tuesday. His family is now coping with their enormous loss.
"This tarnish in my life for the rest of my life," his father said, calling his son a bright and charming boy.
Citizen App video shows police investigating outside the home. No arrests had been reported as of Sunday.
Mayor Bill de Blasio reacted to the shooting on Twitter Sunday before meeting with the boy's family.
"Justin Wallace should be alive right now. He’s dead because of a coward’s act. He had his entire life ahead of him. It’s a profound injustice. His killer will be brought to justice," de Blasio wrote. "To his family: your city shares your anger, it shares your sadness. We mourn with you."
The shooting was one of more than a half-dozen shootings across the city overnight Saturday.
In Manhattan, a 29-year-old man was fatally shot in Kips Bay. Police said Akeem White was shot in the head on E. 26th Street, near First Avenue, around 4:20 a.m. He was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital.
Police said 40-year-old Edward Campbell was also shot and killed inside of his home on Tiebout Avenue in the Fordham Heights section of the Bronx around 2:15 a.m.
Hours earlier in the Bronx, a 12-year-old girl was shot in the ankle in another shooting near E. 171st Street and Wythe Place in Mount Eden around 6 p.m. A 25-year-old man was also shot in the chest. They were both hospitalized in stable condition.
According to the latest NYPD statistics, shootings in the city were up 73% last month compared to May 2020.
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