According to authorities, a 12-year-old child riding in a parked car in Brooklyn was tragically shot on Thursday night after his family stopped to eat.

According to officials, a torrent of bullets landed on the automobile, and the youngster, who was seated in the passenger seat, was wounded many times. Assistant Chief Michael Kemper said at a press conference late Thursday as rain began to pour that he was declared deceased at the site.

Speaking at the press conference, Mayor Eric Adams condemned the attack on “innocent people” and assured that the gunman would be apprehended.

“The 12-year-old we lost, sitting in that car, eating,” said the mayor, a former police captain who has promised to reduce the number of shootings. “I keep asking myself, ‘What about the innocent people?'” What about those who are shot and killed while sitting in their cars?'”

The reason for the shooting remained unknown, according to police, who added that two black vehicles were observed fleeing the site.

The boy’s murder was the latest bleak chapter in a surge of gun violence that has followed the epidemic, heightening some New Yorkers’ concerns about public safety and putting Mr. Adams’ campaign commitment to do everything it takes to alleviate those concerns to the test.

Crime in New York is far lower than it was in previous, more difficult periods of the city’s recent history, yet there were more than 1,500 shootings in 2020 and 2021, according to preliminary year-end police figures. That was about twice as many as the preceding two years combined, and it was the highest amount in a decade.

On one Saturday this month, 29 people were shot in New York City, including two guests at a Queens bar, a guy on a Brooklyn subway platform, and a Jamaican immigrant slain in the Bronx following an altercation.

The increase in gun violence in New York, which is part of a larger national trend, is nonetheless felt most acutely in many of the same areas where it has long been a source of concern: those mostly populated by poor and working-class Black and Hispanic inhabitants.

The youngster was fatally shot on Thursday at 7:45 p.m. between East 56th Street and Linden Boulevard in the East Flatbush neighbourhood, according to Chief Kemper.

The car’s driver, a 20-year-old woman, was shot many times and was having surgery late Thursday, according to police; she was expected to live. According to authorities, an 8-year-old child sat in the rear was not hurt.

The boy’s family had “drawn over to eat some meal,” said to Chief Kemper, who condemned “another needless shooting.”

The police did not immediately reveal the identities of those who were shot, just stating that they were family members.