A teenage boy was shot lifeless in a Bronx park Tuesday when a chaotic water-gun battle devolved and actual bullets flew – leaving the child’s heartbroken mother grieving her second son misplaced to metropolis violence.
Darrell Harris, 17, was blasted within the head throughout a battle that erupted when one other boy doused him with water from a gel-pellet gun in Starlight Park round 8 p.m. as a warmth wave despatched Large Apple temperatures hovering close to 100, cops mentioned.
Harris charged at him earlier than the gel-pellet gunman’s close by pal opened hearth with an actual gun, sources informed The Submit.. The bullets struck Harris at the back of the pinnacle and his proper arm as a crowd of teenagers gathered round them close to Sheridan Boulevard and 173rd Road within the Crotona Park part of the Bronx, sources mentioned.
Harris’s grieving mother informed reporters Wednesday that her son — who hardly ever left the home — promised he can be dwelling at 9 p.m.
“That’s the most surprising a part of it as a result of he’s not actually exterior,” mentioned Kelli Lewis, 48. “The one time he does ask to go exterior and this transpires.”
“He informed me he was going to the park as a result of his pals have been having a water gun battle.”
“It’s scorching. Children need to play within the water,” she added.
The shattered mother mentioned the surprising taking pictures unfolded as her different son was celebrating his twentieth birthday.
Years earlier, her oldest youngster, Jamal Hunter, 27, was shot lifeless on a Bronx road in 2021.
Lewis mentioned Harris attended Bronx Management Academy Excessive College and had no enemies.
“He wasn’t a toddler who was out working within the streets or hanging out. That’s not who he was,” she mentioned.
The gunman — who was presumably carrying a ski masks — fled alongside along with his water-fun wielding pal, in keeping with cops.
Investigators discovered a knife, 4 shell casings and a number of water weapons on the blood-soaked scene, sources mentioned.
Harris was taken to NYC Well being and Hospitals/Jacobi in important situation however later died.
His shooter was nonetheless on the free Tuesday afternoon.
Lewis and her remaining son have been left devastated on his birthday.
“That’s what these youngsters don’t understand once they choose up these weapons,” she mentioned.
“You’re taking somebody’s life however the entire household is affected by a choice that you simply made so shortly. That wasn’t obligatory.”
