9-year-old girl talks about Brooklyn playground shooting that injured her and her cousin

By CeFaan Kim

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    NEW YORK, NY (WABC) — An investigation is underway after two young girls were shot in a playground in Brooklyn, and now one of the young victims is speaking out.

The girls were caught in the middle of gunfire at the Hilltop Playground minutes after 9 p.m. Monday on Dean and Thomas Boyland streets.

Ruanna Brown, 9, was shot in the leg, and her 11-year-old cousin, Empress Alexander Davis, was shot in the back.

The bullet went through Ruanna’s knee but thankfully her bone wasn’t broken.

“I’m feeling OK, I was a little nervous so I didn’t talk too much but the doctors were trying to make me talk a lot so I wouldn’t fall asleep, so I didn’t really have a lot to say, but they were asking me questions about my summer,” Ruanna said.

Ruanna didn’t get much sleep and she might not for a while.

She was caught in a violent crossfire and her cousin, Empress, remains hospitalized. Empress’ mother was sitting on a park bench watching the girls play when the gunfire rang out.

The playground is right across the street from her home.

Ruanna’s mother says her daughter woke up all night, afraid she was alone.

“My heart fell out of my chest to hear my daughter was shot. First thing I thought was lord take my life and not hers,” said Melissa Alexander, Ruanna’s mother. “I’m lost for words. I’m devastated. I’m hurt. I cried all night, all morning. I just want my baby to be safe.”

Investigators say video of the shooting shows two gunmen firing shots at the same time in the same direction.

Police are not ruling out if this was gang-related and it’s still unclear who the intended target was.

Ruanna’s mother has this to say to the gunmen: “Get a life. There’s so much more constructive things to do. You’re putting children’s lives at stake. Innocent children. I’m sure you have someone that looks up to you and you are letting them down.”

Police are looking for two men and at least six shots were fired from two different firearms.

“We heard a bunch of shots rattling out, and some blood-curdling screams, jumped out here, and saw a bunch of kids running down the block. One of them is being carried by two other kids. They were limping. It’s disgusting. It’s upsetting. Wish I could have done more. It’s hard, sometimes to differentiate between kids playing and an emergency, this was clearly not kids playing,” said neighbor Rae Amoako.

Now the community is left frustrated.

“I’m angry, I’m upset because it’s local children that are in this park all the time. I mean that child I just literally seen on Saturday. I said, ‘Hi, how you doing?’ I was in this park with my grandson who’s 1 year old,” a neighbor said.

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