Shocking footage shows 2 children trapped in middle of NYC shooting

Disturbing footage released by the New York Police Department showed the moment a gunman opened fire at his target in the middle of a Bronx street, trapping two innocent children.

The surveillance video shows a man in red toppling over the kids as he is getting chased by a masked man in black. The shooter fires at close range with the children still on the ground near the target. The victim attempts to stand and get away but falls over as he gets shot several times.

The two kids in the video, a ten-year-old girl and her five-year-old brother, are frantic as they try to get away. The young boy stands up first and tries to pull his sister up. She too stands but falls back to the ground as the victim seemingly uses her as a shield. The young girl then grabs her brother to shield him.

According to CBS News, the shooting incident happened on Thursday at around 6:45 p.m. on Sheridan Avenue near East 172nd Street. The gunman reportedly showed up on the scene on the back of a scooter.

Mary Gonzalez, an eyewitness, counted eight shots that came "one after another." She told the publication that she was leaving her apartment when it happened. She saw "everybody was ducking." But by the time she looked down, she saw the "two kids on the floor and everything went crazy."

"It's sad because in the summer, there's kids out here playing. There's elderly people sitting outside. They don't have a chance to get up and run, God forbid, so it's kind of scary for other people that are not used to this," Gonzalez said.

Jasmine Ortiz remembered how she heard the loud gunshots from her apartment. She instinctually threw herself on the floor and shielded her own children.

"It's always problems on this block. I don't know who the people are," she said.

Investigators said the shooter intentionally targeted the victim, who sustained injuries to the back of both legs and on his back. He rushed himself to the hospital where he is expected to survive. Police said that he has a criminal record of firing a gun in public in 2015, and is also connected to two street gangs.

The two children are not related to the victim in any way. They just so happened to be in the area when the shooting happened. Fortunately, they were not injured.

The New York Police Department is now on the lookout for the masked shooter and the driver of the scooter, who was also captured on surveillance wearing a baseball cap and a red T-shirt.