Body camera footage shows the moment a heroic cop rushed to save a four-year-old girl and get her to safety after shots rang out in Times ...
Body camera footage shows the moment a heroic cop rushed to save a four-year-old girl and get her to safety after shots rang out in Times Square on Saturday afternoon.
Police Officer Alyssa Vogel is seen rushing to respond after another officer tending to the wounded tells her: 'I think there's a baby down that way.'
'A baby?' she replies, before immediately running down the sidewalk of the tourist hotspot, pushing some people out of the way to get to four-year-old Skye Martinez.
The youngster was wounded in the calf when gunman Farrakhan Muhammed, 31, opened fire, in the latest in a string of violent crimes that are threatening the city's tourism and amid calls to bolster the police force.
Vogel immediately applied a tourniquet to Skye's leg, and scooped her up in her arms, running to take the child to an ambulance.
Body camera footage shows NYPD Officer Alyssa Vogel (pictured) running through Times Square to reach a four-year-old who was shot in the calf when a gunman opened fire on Saturday night. She applied a tourniquet to the girl's leg and carried her as she ran towards a nearby ambulance
Cop Alyssa Vogel was filmed running from the tourist hotspot with four-year-old Skye Martinez in her arms on Saturday after gunman Farrakhan Muhammed, 31, opened fire (right). On Monday, Vogel said she was just doing her job
'I wanted to get her the help that she needed,' Vogel said later.
'I treated her as if she's my own child - to help her as quickly as I possibly can, to get her the best help she deserved,' Vogel told DailyMail.com.
Skye had been waiting in line with her mother at a toy store when Muhammed, who sells CDs in the area, started shooting around 5 pm.
He was believed to have been targeting his brother, who he'd just gotten into an argument with, when he opened fire. He missed his brother but wounded Skye and two others; 23-year-old Wendy Magrinat, who was also shot in the leg, and another woman who was shot in the foot.
Skye's mother was also there and she ran along behind Vogel after the cop scooped Skye up. Muhammed fled the scene and remains on the run.
'I think any officer that would've responded to a job just like that would've done the exact same thing,' Vogel said.
In an interview with DailyMail.com, Vogel said she thought any police officer in that situation would have done the same thing
The incident came amid criticism from the Sergeants Benevolent Association and mayoral candidates who said Saturday's shooting was proof of the need of more funding for the NYPD, who had their budget slashed by $1billion last summer by Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Violent crime has skyrocketed in New York City over the last several years and shootings are at their most frequent since 1998.
'Live from Times Square Disney in NYC the center of the world and the 'Happiest Place on Earth' where 4 year old girls are shot in broad day light, only feet away from a police precinct,' the SBA tweeted about the incident that night, including a photo of the Times Square Mickey Mouse.
'Tourists avoid NYC don’t become a victim, please go to the real Disney in Florida.'
Tourists were just starting to come back to the Big Apple following a decimating 18-month break in travel thanks to COVID-19, mayoral front-runner Andrew Yang said, and the city 'cannot afford to defund the police.'
'When I talk to New Yorkers, I get a very different message every single day. Nothing works in our city without public safety, and for public safety we need the police.
'My message to the NYPD is this: New York needs you, your city needs you. We need you to do your jobs professionally, responsibly and justly. I will have your back.'
Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain who etched ahead of Yang in a recent poll, slammed him for only now picking up on the rise in crime, which he said has been prevalent in poorer neighborhoods for years.
A large police presence remained at Times Square Monday following the shooting on Saturday
The police were on high alert after the alleged shooter, Farrakhan Muhammad, fled on foot. He remained at large on Monday
'You know what, Andrew? These shootings have been happening blocks from my house for years and blocks from the houses of poorer New Yorkers for years.
'It is time for us to recognize it when it is in every square block of our city. Shame on you for not realizing that,' he said.
Police are searching for Muhammad, 31, who allegedly tried to shoot his brother when he fired bullets into a crowd, hitting two women and a young child
One of Adams' campaign promises is to reinstate the disbanded NYPD anti-crime unit which de Blasio canceled last year amid criticism of its violent tactics.
Vogel, the cop who saved the four-year-old on Saturday, wasn't asked about rising crime when she appeared on GMA Monday morning, but she did talk about her fellow officers.
‘I’m very grateful that people are taking it in that aspect, that I am a hero. Every officer on scene is a hero.
'There were multiple victims. Everyone did a phenomenal job. As a mom, my motherly instincts just went to I need to help her,' she said.
She said she was stunned that the little girl didn't cry despite having been shot, and that the only time she was uncomfortable was when she and another cop tightened a tourniquet when she was in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.
'This little girl is the strongest person I have ever seen for somebody just been shot, she was just standing there obviously scared but she wasn’t crying or anything. She only yelled when we tightened the tourniquet.
'She was very calm for someone who was in a very traumatic situation,' she said.
Vogel previously told The New York Post: 'I kept telling her [the child's mom] to breathe, that I know what she's going through because I have a baby myself. It was very difficult for her, very traumatic. She saw her daughter just get shot.
'I kept telling her to breathe and that her daughter was going to be OK. I kept trying to calm her down because she was obviously very scared.
Former school teacher Vogel joined the NYPD four years ago. Her father, husband and brother are also cops.
'I just wanted to join the police department and help people.'
Magrinat says onlookers began filming her with their mobile phones rather than help in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
One of the victims, Wendy Magrinat, 23, from Rhode Island, told how onlookers began filming as she pleaded for help after being shot in the leg. She is also expected to survive
Shootings in New York City are now at their highest levels since 1998. The NYPD has blamed the uptick on Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio cutting their budget and letting thousands of criminals out of jail early
She was on a sightseeing trip from Rhode Island when she was shot in the leg while standing with her husband Yoel, their two-year-old daughter Elise, and her mother, stepfather and eight-year-old sister.
Magrinat said she started screaming: 'I don't want to die, please help me! The pain was too much, and I dropped to the floor.
'I understand people get in shock. But if you're in shock, you shouldn't be recording. But that's how people are right now.'
Detectives made the connection to suspect Muhammad after they approached a man on West 31st St in Manhattan on Sunday believing that he looked like him, The Post reported.
'I'm his brother,' the man told the detectives.
Police have since released Muhammad's mugshot and are appealing for help in locating him. Muhammad was arrested last year on suspicion of assault.
He allegedly opened fire in the crowded tourist zone in midtown Manhattan after getting into a heated argument with his brother, sending hundreds of people fleeing for their lives.
The shooting occurred in front of the theater that hosts the hit musical Lion King, which is currently closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Victims have since been describing the scenes of panic and confusion as they tried to evade the gunfire.
The shooting occurred in front of the theater that hosts the hit musical Lion King (seen in the background above as police lock down the scene
New York City police officers stand guard after Saturday's shooting in Times Square
Three innocent bystanders, including a mother and her four-year-old girl, were struck by stray bullets in Times Square in broad daylight
NYC Mayoral candidate Andrew Yang has pledged to establish a new 'anti-violence plain clothes unit to reduce guns and gun violence'. 'The police will be key to our recovery,' he said.
NYPD officers responded to the shooting at 4.55pm on Saturday near the intersection of West 44th Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan
Danae Romero, 16, said she was waiting in the queue at the same store with her four-year-old niece Skye when the shooting began.
Romero said the pair ran for their lives - but described how Skye was struck by a stray bullet.
'She didn't feel anything. Even when we noticed when we were at the corner, she wasn't crying,' Romero told the Post.
Romero said Skye, who is from Brooklyn, had managed to stay calm throughout the ordeal, and was in a stable condition in hospital.
'She's pretty tough, I guess,' Romero told the Post. 'She's always been happy. There aren't many times when she cries and stuff,' she said.
She said her sister, Skye's mother, was in a state of shock after the shooting. She called on police to arrest the gunman quickly.
'What if he ends up hurting some more people? 'Cause if he's able to do it in a place where there's so much people like Times Square and not care, what's going to stop him from doing it again?' she said in an interview with the Post.
A third victim, New Jersey woman, 43-year-old Marcela Aldana, was shot in the foot. All victims are expected to recover.
The NYPD released pictures of the man suspected of carrying out the shooting.
Addressing the Times Square shooting, NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Yang said public safety was 'paramount' and promised to establish a new 'anti-violence plain clothes unit to reduce guns and gun violence'.
'The police will be key to our recovery,' he said.
The public is asked to avoid the area at this time and expect traffic delays and road closures. Part of Times Square is pictured cordoned off by police in the wake of Saturday's shooting
NYPD officers canvas the scene for evidence after the shooting on Saturday in Times Square
On Saturday, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said none of the victims were related or known to each other.
Shea said Magrinet and her family had traveled from Rhode Island to Manhattan to visit the Statue of Liberty, but finding the ferry closed decided to visit Times Square instead.
A traffic camera on the scene caught the moment that the crowd of tourists fled in terror as the shots rang out.
NYPD investigators recovered three shell casings at the scene, which appear to be .25 caliber, Commissioner Shea said.
The shooting unfolded after two to four men got into a dispute, and at least one of the men pulled out a gun and began firing, Shea said.
He said that none of the victims who were shot were involved in the dispute, and that they all appeared to be innocent bystanders.
Mayor Bill de Blasio reacted to the shooting on Twitter, saying he was glad the victims were in stable condition.
'The perpetrators of this senseless violence are being tracked down and the NYPD will bring them to justice,' he tweeted. 'The flood of illegal guns into our city must stop.'
De Blasio, who was celebrating his 60th birthday on Saturday, did not join the police commissioner for a press conference at the shooting scene.
Asked about de Blasio's remarks, Commissioner Shea said that his officers have been taking guns off the streets at an 'alarming rate over the past two years.'
'It's time now that we have consequences for those,' he added, seeming to refer to bail reform policies that see many suspects, including those caught with illegal firearms, walk free without posting cash bond.
'How many more kids do we need to be shot before we realize that bad policies have consequences?' said Shea. 'We need action, and we need policies regarding laws to have consequences.'
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