7-month-old girl in stroller fatally shot in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NYPD says

A 7-month-old girl was fatally shot in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference that the shooting happened around 1:21 p.m. as the girl’s mother pushed her in a stroller near the intersection of Humboldt and Moore streets.

She said two men on a moped drove against traffic on Humboldt Street when the passenger drew a gun and fired at least two rounds toward a sidewalk crowded with adults and children.

One of the bullets struck the girl, Tisch said. Police later identified her as Kaori Patterson-Moore from Brooklyn.

Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said the baby’s father then picked her up and rushed her to Woodhull Hospital, where doctors pronounced her dead.

Tisch said the moped continued northbound before crashing into a car, throwing both men from the scooter. The rear passenger hit the pavement so hard that he lost his shoes.

EMS workers responding to that crash took the rear passenger to a hospital. Police said he was in custody on an unrelated case and investigators are working to determine his connection to the shooting.

Tisch said investigators used surveillance video to track the suspects and determined the moped left the Bushwick Houses just before the shooting. After the crash, the driver fled toward the Marcy Houses.

“He is the subject of a massive NYPD manhunt and all New York City police officers have a very clear picture of this outstanding suspect on their phones,” Tisch said.

Officials said investigators believe the shooting was gang-motivated and that the child was not the intended target. Police have not recovered a weapon.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who attended the news conference, said the city cannot accept this kind of violence.

“We cannot grow numb to this pain, and today is a devastating reminder of just how much more work there is to be done to combat gun violence across this city,” he said.

Leslie Bradbury, who is originally from Queens, said he remembers Brooklyn’s “notorious” reputation for shootings when he was growing up.

“I really can’t tell you about the last time I heard about some kid being shot,” he said.

Bradbury, who moved to East Williamsburg about a year ago and lives a few blocks from the shooting, said he was struck by how close it hit home.

“This child was seven months. That’s crazy,” he said. “And I haven’t heard about shootings in a while — especially in Brooklyn, because this place is being gentrified. And with the police presence? You don’t really see them, but you can feel them.”

Last week, a 9-year-old boy in Brownsville was struck by a stray bullet and survived, police said.

Citywide, shootings this year track close to 2025 levels, which officials called a record-low year for gun violence, though experts say incidents tend to rise as the weather warms.