A 13-year-old boy was injured in a shooting at an East Harlem public housing development across the street from an NYPD precinct stationhouse Thursday, police said.
Authorities said the shooting happened around 4:10 p.m. at NYCHA’s George Washington Houses on East 102nd Street and Third Avenue near the 23rd Precinct headquarters. Police said the teen was hit in his left shoulder and first responders took him to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where he was in stable condition.
The NYPD was still investigating a motive for the shooting. Officials said they were looking for a man in a black shirt and black mask who fled in an unknown direction.
The boy is the second 13-year-old injured by gunfire in New York City in the past two weeks. Sanjay Samuel was shot in his head outside a Dunkin’ store in Queens on his way to school on Sept. 22 and died a few days later at the hospital. A 16-year-old has been charged with murder in connection with Samuel’s death.
NYPD data through Sept. 28 shows shootings in the 23rd Precinct, which serves East Harlem, have fallen slightly this year compared to the same period in 2024. There were six shootings up to that date in 2025, down from eight last year. Citywide, shootings have declined 20% this year, according to police data.
A coalition of nonprofit organizations, law enforcement officials and community leaders have been working to reduce gun violence in East Harlem over the last several years, Gothamist previously reported. Their efforts have helped drive down shootings from a significant spike during the pandemic.
Still, the area has recorded several high-profile incidents in recent months, with many of them involving young people. An NYPD officer opened fire during a shootout between two groups of teens on Sept. 15 at NYCHA’s Wagner Houses near East 123rd Street and Second Avenue. Two 15-year-olds were wounded in the incident, and one of them was arrested along with 18-year-old Damien Calhoun, who was charged with attempted murder, criminal weapons possession and reckless endangerment.
Calhoun’s lawyer Yusuf Abdul-Wahab Elashmawy said the evidence “clearly” shows his client was trying to “avoid and deescalate the situation.”
“The greater focus needs to be on the guns that all levels of government have failed to regulate and control — specifically, the illegal guns that are trafficked from more lax states,” Elashmawy said Friday.
In early September, 18-year-old Faisil McCants was arrested and charged in federal court in connection with a shooting that killed 69-year-old Robin Wright as she walked to her building on East 110th Street and Madison Avenue. Information for McCants’ attorney was not immediately available.
This is a developing story based on preliminary information from police and may be updated.
For more information about gun violence in New York City, check out Gothamist’s map of shooting incidents over the last five years.
