A Mount Vernon teenager was fatally shot Thursday near the Levister Towers apartment complex.
The shooting occurred around 10:30 a.m. in the rear courtyard of 230 S. 7th Ave. The 14-year-old victim was shot in the chest. Police officers who arrived at the scene began life-saving efforts and he was taken to Montefiore Mount Vernon Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
Police later learned that a second teenager had been grazed by a bullet in the shooting and was treated for non-life threatening injuries at a hospital.
No arrests had been made as of late afternoon.
The only information that city officials provided as of 5:15 p.m. was that one person had been shot.
Lt. Nicholas Mastrogiorgio, the police union president, posted on Facebook that the teenager had been killed.
“My heart goes out (to) the family of this young child who’s life was cut short at the hands of senseless gun violence,” Mastrogiorgio posted. “Every homicide is an absolute tragedy but a 14 YEAR OLD CHILD, this is heartbreaking!”
The shooting forced a lockout at eight city schools “out of an abundance of caution”, said K. Veronica Smith, the acting schools superintendent. That included Grimes Elementary School, three blocks from the shooting scene, and Mount Vernon STEAM Academy, where the victim was a 9th-grader.
Smith expressed “extreme sadness” at the tragedy in a statement released by the district and said that counselors, psychologists and social workers of the District Crisis Team were deployed to all schools and would be available as needed for all students.
Police on Facebook were urging people to stay away from the area and for anyone with information about the shooting to contact detectives at 914-665-2510 or text MVPD and the information to 847411.
It was the second homicide of the year in Mount Vernon, both claiming teenage victims. On Feb. 11, Sergey Tonkovid, 19, was found stabbed to death at the intersection of Lincoln and Columbus avenues. That killing remains unsolved.