Bronx mom of baby shot in the face says she will be OK

2022-08-13 04:51:14 By : Mr. Kris Hu

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The Bronx mom whose baby was shot in the face overnight by a stray bullet came home from the hospital with good news Thursday morning: Her daughter is going to survive. 

“She’s stable,” an emotional Miraida Gomez, 32, told The Post as she walked into her East Bronx apartment. 

“She’s going to be OK. God willing. It’s in God’s hands,” continued Gomez, a case manager at a Bronx nonprofit. 

Gomez’s 11-month-old baby girl, Catherine, whose birthday is Friday, was shot in the left cheek around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday while her mom was parked near the intersection of East 198th Street and Valentine Avenue, law enforcement sources previously told The Post. 

Video released by the NYPD Thursday shows the gunman, whose bullet hit the child, wildly squeezing off shots near the intersection as he chased down a target. 

Photos taken from the crime scene show baby Catherine’s pink coat drenched in blood and left behind on the street. 

Gomez’s husband, Louis Ortiz, said the family had “been up all night” while doctors at Manhattan’s New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center worked to save Catherine’s life. 

The couple declined to speak further about the incident, and the moment they shut their apartment door, Gomez was heard breaking down into loud, choked sobs. 

“I can’t believe this!” Ortiz’s sister Nancy, who lives across the hall, told The Post. 

“Catherine is just learning to walk. She took her first steps.” 

William Rivera, the building’s super and a friend of the family, said the couple has two more children, 8- and 9-year-old girls. 

“Terrible! It’s getting so crazy now!” Rivera, 54, said of the gun violence. 

“No one is safe, [not even] a little baby!” 

During a press conference from the scene Wednesday night, NYPD Deputy Chief Timothy McCormack said cops found Gomez cradling Catherine when they arrived. 

“This is completely unacceptable in our city that an 11-month-old child is shot,” McCormack railed.

“If tonight wasn’t a wake-up call, then I don’t know what will wake us up. It is unimaginable that this is happening in our city,” added Mayor Eric Adams, who stopped by the scene to speak to reporters. 

The gunman has yet to be apprehended. Cops say he’s an adult male with a medium build, last seen fleeing in a gray, four-door sedan.