3-year-old boy shot by stray bullet in Grays Ferry: police

By ROSS DIMATTEI

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    PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — A 3-year-old boy was struck by a stray bullet Sunday in Philadelphia’s Grays Ferry neighborhood, police said. It happened along the 1500 block of Taney Street just after 5 p.m.

Investigators believe the child was hit by a stray bullet.

While they search for whoever fired that shot, we’re learning the boy who was hit might not have made it if not for the fast actions of a good Samaritan.

“I just saw a woman running up the street yelling,” Meeka Outlaw said.

Outlaw was about to unload groceries at her home on Taney Street around 5 p.m. Sunday when she says she heard a mother and her baby crying out desperately for help.

“I hear a woman just carrying a baby, yelling, running down the street,” Outlaw said, “and I guess it was just the mom instinct.”

Philadelphia police say the boy had been hit in the cheek by a single stray bullet

“I was too scared to really look over at the baby,” Outlaw said, “so I don’t know where he was hit. I just saw a lot of blood.”

Outlaw says she didn’t waste any time getting the mother and toddler in her car in search of help.

“I realized I didn’t think my car was going to make it all the way over to Children’s Hospital,” Outlaw said, “but I knew there was a fire station on Grays Ferry Avenue so that’s why I just brought them here.”

Outlaw rushed the two to a firehouse on Grays Ferry Avenue while she also called 911.

“I yelled to the firefighters that the baby was bleeding,” Outlaw said, “and the fire department, they just jumped into action.”

Firefighters took over from there, rushing the boy to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he is in stable condition.

For this good Samaritan, she’s hoping she did enough

“I have a 1-year-old,” Outlaw said. “I’m a school teacher. I’m hoping he’s OK.”

Police haven’t made any arrests yet.

They tell us they searched the mother’s home along Bailey Street, but they did not recover any weapons or shell casings.

As for that little boy, police say he was staying here at CHOP to undergo surgery.

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