3 year old New York City child injured by bullet in his apartment

A 3 year old was shot in a New York City apartment building:

A 3-year-old boy was shot in the head in his Brooklyn apartment early Saturday, the police said. A man, 22, who was in the apartment at the time was being questioned by detectives on Saturday evening, the police said.

A police officer stood outside an apartment where a 3-year-old boy was shot in Brooklyn.

The boy, whose name was not released, was in critical but stable condition at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital. His mother was not home at the time, and he had been under the care of a female baby sitter, according to the police.

The shooting occurred around 3:30 a.m. at 520 East 21st Street in Ditmas Park. The bullet entered the left side of the boy’s head and exited through the back.

Investigators were still trying to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting, and no arrests had been made by Saturday afternoon.

“It must have been an accident,” said Devon Reyes, 35, a friend of the man in the apartment.

Residents of the building identified the mother as Nichelle Edwards. Sean Gomez, 50, a neighbor and friend of the family, said the boy had been mauled by a pit bull this summer; family friends said he was still recovering from his injuries when he was shot.

“That 3-year-old suffered more than any adult suffers in his whole life,” a family friend who declined to give his name said.

In 2006, Ms. Edwards was herself wounded in the hand and briefly hospitalized in a shooting at the building that killed a 34-year-old man.

Neighbors said the boy was playful and energetic. He was often seen in front of the building, yelling and running around with other children from the block.

“He talks to everybody,” said Shenice Toussaint, 22, a building resident. “It’s sad. I pray for the mother. It’s mind-boggling.”

Family friends described a small boy who had lived a difficult life.

“He was mauled by a dog, born premature and then shot in the head,” Mr. Gomez said.

Mr. Reyes said the boy “doesn’t deserve all that’s come to him.”