Port Richmond teen arrested in shooting of 17-month-old baby in her stroller

Enlarge Jan Somma-Hammel The bloodied stroller of a 17-month-old girl rests outside 55 Holland Ave. after the child was shot. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel) Small child caught in Mariners Harbor crossfire gallery (14 photos)

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police have arrested a Port Richmond teen in connection with the shooting of a 17-month-old girl shot in the face by a stray bullet yesterday afternoon. Damark King, 19, of the 100-block of Nicholas Avenue was apprehended and charged with assault, criminal use of a firearm and reckless endangerment.
Samyah Bailey was shot in the eye as she sat in her stroller in the courtyard playground of the Arlington Terrace Apartments in Mariners Harbor, police said. She remains this morning in critical but stable condition in Richmond University Medical Center, police said.
Shots blasted through the area behind the apartment building at 55 Holland Ave. after a heated argument broke out between two men about 1:40 p.m., witnesses said.

Staten Island shooting leaves small child wounded The scene where a young girl apparently between 18 months and two years of age -- was struck in the face by a stray bullet after shots were fired in Mariners Harbor this afternoon, according to emergency radio transmissions and several witness accounts. Watch video

Samyah, who may have been the tragic victim of a dispute between the gunman and a member of her family, according to sources— was lifted out of her blood-covered stroller by family members and rushed by car to Richmond University Medical Center, witnesses said.
"When I walked out to my balcony, I saw them carrying the baby to whoever’s car it was,” said family friend and neighbor, Elianna Duncan, who ran inside when she heard the shots but came back out immediately afterwards. “I saw the blood all over her head and her braids.”