One-year-old killed by bullet intended for his father

Published: 2013 September 02 11:21:42 (4797 Views)

A one-year-old Brooklyn boy was killed by a bullet that had his father's name on it, police sources said.

Antiq Hennis was nestled in his stroller Sunday night, just inches from his parents, when the shot pierced his head just a block from the family's Riverdale Ave. home, cops and witnesses said.

The child's father - the intended target, according to law enforcement sources and family members - was unharmed but distraught after the bullets started flying at Bristol St. near Livonia Ave. in Brownsville at 7:20 p.m.

"He was screaming ‘My baby got shot.' He was going crazy," said Gina Gamboa, 22, who saw the dad seconds after Antiq was mortally wounded. "The baby was breathing, but his eyes were closed. It's crazy. They just will start shooting."

At least four shots rang out. The tragic tot was the only person hit.

Little Antiq was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital with a bullet hole in the left side of his head, cops said.

He died at the hospital shortly before 9 p.m.

"He just started walking. He was vibrant. He was full of life," said the baby's great-uncle, Chris Dobson. "I can't believe it."

The relative said that Antiq's parents, who hail from Trinidad, celebrated their son's first birthday in May. He said it was the father who was in the gunman's crosshairs.

"They shot at him and ended up shooting the baby," Dobson said.

Detectives believe the shooting was payback for an earlier dispute, according to sources.

Another source said the dad dashed away from the stroller to draw the gunfire from his son.

Bishop Willie Billips, a local anti-violence activist, was with the parents as they made the gut-wrenching official identification of their lifeless child.

"I'm furious about what I've just seen. I'm outraged," Billips said. "A 1-year-old baby lying on the bed? It's horrible."

There was little solace he could offer to the family, Billips added.

"What do you say? It brought me to tears. To see young parents suffer - for what?"

No arrests had been made as of late Sunday, police said.

But a source in the Brownsville community said the shooter's street name has been given to cops.

Antiq is the 16th victim under the age of 16 to be shot on city streets since mid-May, and he is the second child to die, according to a Daily News review.

The boy's grieving parents were hunkered down in their home late Sunday.

"The family is shocked and devastated," Councilman Charles Barron said after comforting the bereft couple. "The child didn't even get a chance to start his life, and now it's over."

A woman identifying herself as Antiq's godmother left the hospital shaken after the boy died.

"I saw him, I saw him in there, oh my goodness, oh my God, oh my Lord," she wailed. "He was just a baby."

- NYDN

Tags: bullet, Gun, Killed,

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