5 Arrested in Shooting that Critically Injured Bronx Schoolgirl

NEW YORK (AP/1010 WINS)  -- A 16-year-old boy and four young men, all of them gang members, were arrested Wednesday on attempted murder charges in a shooting that caught a high school girl in the crossfire, police said.

The 15-year-old girl, Vada Vasquez, was struck in the head by a stray bullet. She underwent surgery earlier this week to remove bullet fragments from her skull and remained in a medically induced coma Wednesday. The intended target, 19-year-old Tyrone Creighton, remains hospitalized with a bullet in his lung.


Carol D'Auria Reports

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said shootings are down this year, but that one is too many.

``Certainly one innocent victim is one too many,'' he said. ``This is a terrible tragedy. A young girl, who had nothing to do with this incident whatsoever, and she's now in a coma in the hospital.''

Kelly said all five suspects were members of a faction of the Bloods street gang and were believed to have targeted Creighton as retaliation for an assault that took place in Rikers Island.

Kelly said two of Creighton's brothers were in an altercation with another man inside the jail. That person somehow ordered the shooting.

Creighton was targeted as he left a deli Monday afternoon, police said. The baby-faced shooter and another suspect chased him on bicycles before gunning him down where Vasquez was standing with friends, Kelly said.

Rohan Francis, 18; Cleve Smith, 20; his brother Clivie Smith, 19; and Dwayne Taylor, 23, were charged in the attack because they acted together to get a .40-caliber gun that the 16-year-old, Carvett Gentles, used to shoot at Creighton, Kelly said. The four men have extensive records and it's possible they gave the gun to Carvett to shoot because he has no criminal record, Kelly said.

The five were being held until arraignment on the charges, which also include criminal possession of a weapon. They told reporters outside a police precinct they were being set up by police. There was no attorney information for them.

Police are investigating how word got out from Rikers and whether it was a possible gang initiation. A weapon has not been recovered but six shell casings were found at the scene.

Police also arrested a 17-year-old in a separate shooting on Monday in the Bronx where two bystanders were also caught in crossfire. Felix Delvalle, 19, was killed and a 42-year-old man and 58-year-old woman were hospitalized. Delvalle was the intended target, Kelly said.

Phillip Carr, 17, was charged with murder and attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He was also awaiting arraignment and no attorney information was available.

``These young men apparently don't care who else is in the neighborhood, who else is at risk,'' Kelly said. ``They're trying to settle the score, regardless of what the outcome might be as far as innocent people are concerned.''

READ MORE: Bronx Schoolgirl Critically Injured by Stray Bullet

Inset photo: Vasquez/MySpace