Bronx baby girl shot in head is spending first birthday in hospital

The baby who was shot in the head by a stray bullet while sitting with her mother in a parked car in The Bronx was pictured for the first time on Friday, as her aunt revealed that the child was spending her first birthday in the hospital.

Marta Orellana wrote in the description of an online fundraiser that her niece, Catherine Rose Ortiz, was recovering from brain surgery after suffering 'a horrific trauma.' 

'I would like to help Catherine and her family with some financial assistance,' Orellana wrote on her GoFundMe page. ;They have to deal with so much already and the last thing they need to worry about are all the financial issues that arise from medical treatment, especially with having to take time away from work and still having to cover their child’s essentials while she recovers.' 

The aunt shared a sweet photo of her smiling niece, dressed in a floral shirt, a bib and a pink knit hat.

The fundraiser so far has drawn nearly $10,000 in donations from well-wishers.   

The shooting of the child on Wednesday night shocked the city, which is grappling with rising crime rates and mounting public safety concerns.

Miraida Gomez, 32, Catherine's mother, previously told New York Post that her daughter was stable at Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan on Thursday. 

'She’s going to be OK,' the mom told the outlet outside her apartment in The Bronx. 'God willing. It’s in God’s hands.'

Gomez and her husband, Louis Ortiz, also have two older daughters, ages 8 and 9.  

Family member Nancy Ortiz said Catherine is just learning to walk.   

Earlier on Thursday, police released heart-stopping video footage showing the moment a gunman shot baby Catherine in the face while chasing a rival through The Bronx.

In the recording, the suspect - dressed in dark clothing, including a black Nike hoodie - races around a corner in Bedford Park with a gun in his hand.

He can be seen opening fire, while a rival dashes away, and disappears from the camera shot. The gunman, who has not been named or arrested, can be seen pausing and firing shots close to two pale cars. 

It is unclear which vehicle Catherine was in, but she was struck while sitting next to her mom, who mistook the bullet for a rock hitting their parked car.

Moments later, the gunman can be seen running back down the street and out of sight. His tiny victim was rushed to hospital in a critical but stable condition. Her blood-stained pink coat was photographed lying on the ground afterwards.

The child is the latest victim of a surging wave of violence that has overwhelmed New York City, with shootings, assaults and rapes all skyrocketing, and which the new mayor, Eric Adams, is determined to curtail, despite lenient state bail reform laws that have seen repeat offenders released back into the community.   

The mother's husband was at a nearby store at the time of the shooting and ran outside when he heard his wife's screams. During a press conference near the scene, Mayor Adams described how the dad cradled his wounded daughter, dressed in a pink coat stained red with her blood.  

One of the gunmen is caught on camera fleeing on foot, back past the deli, and they both remain at large.

The little girl, who turns one on Friday, was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital in critical but stable condition, before being intubated and transferred to Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan. No further updates on her condition have been given. 

Adams visited the child and her mother on Wednesday night in the hospital, the mayor told reporters.