NYPD Officer Who Saved 4-Year-Old Gunshot Victim Raises $3000 for Child’s Family

An NYPD officer raised $3000 for the family of a 4-year-old gunshot victim she helped save earlier this year in Times Square.

Four-year-old Skye Martinez was shot on May 8 while waiting in line with her family at Line Friends in Times Square, the New York Post reports. A gunman had been arguing with individuals when a stray bullet hit the young child. New York City Police Officer Alyssa Vogel rushed the young child to an ambulance after the shooting, helping to save her life.

Though Skye is still on the mend from her injuries, she and her family visited Officer Vogel at the officer’s Midtown Precinct on October 22, the New York Post reports. Vogel provided the young girl’s family with a check for $3,000 that she raised on a fundraising website for first responders called Fund the First. Vogel began raising the money in May shortly after the incident occurred, the Post reports.

The kind-hearted officer also organized a surprise visit from Little Joe, one of New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) mounted units, the Post reports.

“We were surprised when officer Vogel called us,” said the girl’s mother, Sonya Martinez, according to the New York Post. “When we showed up at the precinct the officers were very kind. They hugged us and my daughter petted the horse.”

“Later when we got home she kept talking about the horse and how big he was,” Martinez added. 

Martinez expressed her gratitude to the officers for saving her daughter that terrifying day. 

“We are very grateful to the officers for all they did for us that day, and for not forgetting us,” Martinez said, per the Post.

During the shooting, two others were wounded. Breitbart reported that U.S. Marshalls arrested alleged suspect Farrakhan Muhammad, 31, in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 12 in connection with the shooting.

The Post reports he allegedly fled the state with his girlfriend after the shooting.