Two crime scenes were cordoned off in the Bronx Friday night as investigators worked to determine who may have been behind a shooting that sent a 5-year-old to the hospital with a gunshot wound in her back. News 4’s Jessica Cunnington reports.
A fugitive wanted in the shooting of a 5-year-old girl in the Bronx in the summer of 2023 has been captured and charged, according to the U.S Attorney's Office.
Police officials said the girl was in a car seat when she was struck in the back by gunfire around 7 p.m. on the night of June 30, as she sat in a car with her father.
According to court documents, the father and daughter were in their car near White Plains Road and East 213rd Street in the Williamsbridge neighborhood, waiting for two of the dad's friends to arrive so they could attend a car show. After they arrived, one of the cars that dropped them off pulled alongside the father's sedan and started revving the engine, causing it to backfire.
The sound of the backfire caused a group, including suspects Austin Morrishow and Curtis White, to scatter. Morrishow took cover behind a parked car and fired a .40-caliber handgun multiple times at the cars, prosecutors said. White chased the cars down the street with a gun as well.
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The shooting reportedly took place near a memorial in progress for a man killed in a shooting the previous night.
After getting a few blocks behind them, the father checked on his daughter, which is when he realized she had been shot. The girl was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, police said at the time, and has since recovered.
The 26-year-old White was arrested not long after, but the 25-year-old Morrishow went on the run for nearly eight months before finally getting nabbed Wednesday afternoon, according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.
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Prosecutors allege Morrishow and White broke the law by possessing ammunition after being convicted of a felony. Williams said the pair were on a busy sidewalk when they fired shots at three cars.
"Morrishow recklessly fired multiple rounds of illegally possessed ammunition at innocent New Yorkers, striking and injuring a young child and endangering the lives of other bystanders. Instead of turning himself in, Morrishow fled for over seven months," said Williams. "Today’s arrest keeps our promise to work relentlessly with our law enforcement partners to track down and capture fugitives — whether it takes seven days, seven weeks, or seven months — and bring them to justice."
If convicted, Morrishow and White each face up to years in prison. Attorney information for the two was not clear.
