New York City authorities have arrested and charged a 15-year-old boy with murder in connection to the shooting death of an 11-year-old girl near Westchester Avenue in the Bronx on Monday.
The juvenile male suspect also faces charges of manslaughter and two counts of illegal possession of a weapon, the New York Police Department (NYPD) told Fox News Digital. Authorities are searching for a second suspect.
Police on Monday responded to reports of a shooting just before 5 p.m. ET at 1015 Fox Street.
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Two male suspects on a scooter had been chasing an unknown male, who was running on foot down Fox Street and attempted to enter a building. The suspects fired shots when they passed by the unknown male on their scooter, striking the 11-year-old victim identified as Kyhara Tay in the process.
A video posted by NYPD Crime Stoppers shows two suspects riding the scooter down a sidewalk on Fox Street. The suspect on the back of the scooter, wearing a black sweatshirt, appears to fire from a handgun while the other suspect, in a gray sweatshirt, continues driving.
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"She was everything," Khyara's mother, Yahisha Gomez, told the New York Daily News.
"She was funny, attitude, feisty, silly, careful," Gomez said. "Like she was very careful with everything. Respectful. She watched over her baby sister. She was a protector."
Her father, Sopkini Tay, told the outlet that he wants people to remember his daughter as "a sweet little girl…a sister, a daughter, cousin, niece."
"A loving girl, that’s all she was. Friendly. Everybody knows her," Tay said.
Kyhara was pronounced dead at Lincoln Hospital later on Monday. A vigil for the young victim took place on Tuesday evening, according to the outlet.
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"I haven’t slept since the incident with Khyara Tay," one Facebook user wrote about the shooting. "I walk around with fear for my kids. It’s sad that our kids are not safe in our own community. Instead of the city being worried about people not paying the bus, they should be worried about getting all these scooters and cars without license plate off the streets. RIP Khyara Tay."