ALMOST double the amount of children have been shot in New York City in 2022 as the same time last year, according to authorities.
The rise in violence includes the stabbing death of a six-year-old girl who reportedly tried hiding under the covers when she and her mother were attacked inside their Bronx apartment.
The aunt of murdered six-year-old Rozara Estevez called the increase in violence in her city “disgusting” in an interview with Fox News.
On March 5, Gabrielle Muniz, 26, and her daughter were found dead inside of their apartment in the Bronx.
According to the NYPD, the two were killed by Muniz’s boyfriend Caleb Duberry, who was not Estevez’s father.
Police entered the Bronx home for a welfare check, and found Estevez dead in her bed. Police also removed three knives, the potential murder weapons, from the scene.
On March 6, Durberry’s body was also discovered in an apartment just one mile from the scene of the crime.
NYPD reported that he appeared to have committed suicide upon hearing police officers approaching.
Before her death, Muniz was enrolled in pharmacology school and was set to graduate with her degree in September.
“My daughter was an incredible person,” Muniz’s mom Yanik Rocha told People Magazine. “She was a single mother, with no help from the father. She was a hard worker and an inspiration for all.”
Rocha believes that Durberry killed Muniz in a fit of rage because she ended their relationship.
Durberry had a history of criminal violence, and was on parole at the time of the murder. He had past arrests for assault, robbery and gun possession.
Estevez’s death was considered New York’s first child murder of 2022, making the number of child murders less than this time last year.
However, child shootings are way up. “As of March 15, 24 children were shot year-to-date, compared to the 13 reported during the same period in 2021,” Fox News reported.
Children have been shot in incidences of gang violence and all around senseless violence.
New York mayor Eric Adams says that the city needs to do better.
“We must step up, save the children who are falling through the cracks upstream,” he said in a statement. “We must rescue them before they are swept away in the rivers of violence.”
On January 19, an 11-month-old girl was shot in the face in the Bronx sitting in a car with her mother. The gunman was fighting with someone else, and shot the girl by mistake. The infant is expected to survive.
In March, a three-year-old girl was shot leaving a daycare center in Brooklyn with her father. Police suspect the shooter, again, had a different target.
A seven-year-old was also shot in Coney Island in January in another wrong-target shooting.
In another instance, security videos show a young boy attacked and shot inside of the Shepherd Avenue subway station in Brooklyn.
Read More on The US Sun
Muniz’s family set up a GoFundMe for funeral expenses for Muniz and Estevez.
“Thank you again to those sharing and donating! My sister was so special! Rozara was a light on this earth! I hate past tense still,” wrote Giselle on her Facebook page. “They are both amazing little women and I’m so proud to have been Gabrielle’s sister and Rozara’s titi. Please keep sharing and donating if you can.”
Do you have a story for The US Sun team?
Email us at exclusive@the-sun.com or call 212 416 4552.
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheSunUS and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSunUS
