A 12-year-old boy has been killed after being shot in the head and chest while he was sat in a parked minivan with a woman and an eight-year-old girl, who were members of his family, in Brooklyn.
Police said that the woman, aged 20, was also hit multiple times and is undergoing surgery in hospital, but is expected to survive.
An eight-year-old girl in a backseat of the car survived unscathed.
The woman was sitting in the driving seat with the 12-year-old victim in the front passenger seat when they were hit by the gunfire.
Police said that they had "pulled over to eat some food" when the car was hit by the shots.
They were shot during a fierce gunfight on East 56 Street and Linden Boulevard in East Flatbush just after 7.45 pm, on Thursday night.
Assistant police chief Michael Kemper told reporters: "Once again I’m standing before you to brief you on another senseless shooting. This time the shooting involving the death of a 12-year-old child."
He told how police arrived on the scene after reports of shots fired and found the three people in the car.
"Upon their arrival they came upon the vehicle that was parked, it was a dark coloured Toyota and it was occupied by three individuals, a 20-year-old female, a 12-year-old male and an eight-year-old female, " he said.
"The 20-year-old female was in the driver’s seat she was shot multiple times to her body, she was removed to Kings County Hospital, she is currently in surgery and is expected to survive.
"In the passenger seat was a 12-year-old male, he was shot multiple times to his body, he was pronounced dead on scene. In a rear seat was an eight-year-old female, in the rear portion of the vehicle, she was uninjured.
"Our preliminary investigation reveals that the three pulled over in the car to eat some food when shots were fired that penetrated their vehicle."
Two cars sped off after the shooting and it is unknown whether people inside the vehicles were firing at each other.
“I saw the victim in the car, he wasn’t moving,” a witness told the New York Post.
Another witness said: “I heard eight shots and I would say within 20 seconds of the shots, I saw a car on the corner facing East New York Avenue … and they almost got into an accident with oncoming traffic."
Police are telling people to avoid the area.
The NYPD tweeted: "Due to police activity, avoid the area of E. 56 Street and Linden Blvd in Brooklyn. Expect emergency vehicles & delays in the surrounding area."
