Two-year-old Neya was dangling her feet out of the family vehicle at her great aunt’s home in North York on Saturday, where a celebratory barbecue was being held for her two cousins.
The family was just getting ready to leave at about 10:40 p.m., when a bullet hit the toddler’s leg at the Sentinel Rd. home.
“All I heard were some fireworks and next thing I knew, she was being taken to the hospital. We didn’t know it was a bullet at the time, we thought it could’ve been something like a stick, just flying through the air,” said Janet, Neya’s great aunt.
Janet said she is still shaken up about the incident. When the middle-aged woman learned that it was a bullet that hit Neya, she was floored.
“I was shocked; it’s just crazy,” she said, shaking her head.
Janet said the little girl is the baby of the family and that although she is okay physically — requiring only a couple of stitches — the terrifying incident has taken an emotional toll.
Neya’s mother said briefly on the phone that she and her child are traumatized and little Neya doesn’t want to be around strangers.
The child will remain in the house until she’s back to normal, she said.
Janet said she wouldn’t know what to say to the person who fired the gun and caused her family so much strife, and believes teenagers having nothing to do in summer leads to mischief.
“The blessing is that Neya is so young, and we’re hoping she just won’t remember this,” she said.
The family has lived in the city for 30 years and she said they can’ t just pick up and leave now because of this.
Prim Persaund, 20, who lives down the street, said he feels gun violence in the city must be a serious issue if an innocent child can get mixed up in it.
“I was at the beach and my mom called me, to ask where I was and make sure I was off the street. She doesn’t want me walking around here now, it’s made her think twice about this area,” he said.
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