Harlem gangster, 27, with 5 priors is arrested for Bronx shooting that nearly killed 2 kids

Mayoral candidate Eric Adams puts up 2k reward of his own cash for the NYC sidewalk shooter who missed two kids by INCHES during gang warfare hit as NYC violent crime continues to rise

• Michael Lopez, 27, has been arrested for the June 17 shooting in the Bronx 
• He has five priors including for attempted murder, robbery and revenge porn 
• Lopez is a member of the 'Make It Happen Boyz' gang in Harlem 
• He was chasing Hassan Wright, 24, when he nearly struck Christian, five, and Mia, 13, with bullets
• The kids had gone to the store to buy bread for their parents  when they got caught in the chaos
• The shooting outraged New Yorkers who are growing increasingly worried about the spike in crime
• Shootings across New York are up by 77 percent since last year  

Michael Lopez, 27, was taken into custody on Friday morning in connection with the June 17 shooting

A Harlem gang member with five prior arrests including one as recent as 2020 has been arrested for the Bronx shooting last week that nearly killed a brother and sister aged five and 13. 

Michael Lopez, 27, was taken into custody on Friday morning in connection with the June 17 shooting. 

He was processed at the 44th Precinct in the Bronx, yards from where the shooting took place. 

Police records viewed by DailyMail.com reveal he is a member of the Make it Happen Boyz gang - a street gang in Harlem. 

His priors include attempted murder, robbery, conspiracy, criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful disclosure of intimate images but somehow, he was not in custody.

It's unclear why he was not in custody or what the status of any of those other criminal cases is.  

Police say he Lopez is the gunman who was filmed running behind Hassan Wright and opening fire, shooting him in the back and legs before fleeing.

What was most horrifying about the shooting was that the gunman paid no regard to 13-year-old Mia and five-year-old Christian Toribio, who were walking home from the store and got caught beneath Wright's feet after he barreled into them while trying to flee. 

Miraculously, neither of the kids were struck but they were directly in the line of fire. 

The shooting outraged New Yorkers who are growing tired of the escalating crime across the city.   

 Michael Lopez, 27, was taken into custody on Friday morning in connection with the June 17 shooting. The gunman was filmed running behind Hassan Wright and opening fire, shooting him in the back and legs before fleeing (above left). Right, an image police circulated of the suspect afterwards to try to catch him

Horrifying moment kids are caught up in Bronx shooting

NYPD officials say they are planning a press conference for later in the day where they will share more details. 

He was arrested after they issued surveillance camera footage of the gunman in a subway station. It's not clear yet if that is how he was identified. 

It was still light and the parents watched from the window of their first floor apartment - which is 1,000 feet away as the kids walked down the street hand-in-hand, as they do whenever the kids go to the store for them. 

The apartment is just feet away from the 170th street subway station and is next to a park.

It was busy with local families and residents. 

The parents were watching when the gunman - who has not been identified - started running towards the kids on Sheridan Avenue, pointing at his target Hassan Wright, who was also behind the children. Hassan started running and tried to escape but instead he barreled into the brother and sister, knocking them to the ground.

NYC  Mayoral frontrunner Eric Adams was among those who called for him to be arrested. 

'We need to catch this b****d. We need to catch him. We need to get him. He needs to be off our streets,' he said. 

Christian, five, and Mia, 13 at the Yankees game on Sunday. They were hosted by the Yankees after being visited at home by local politicians. The kids were in high spirits despite having narrowly avoided death on Thursday. They smiled and waved for cameras from one of the Yankees' executive boxes

Picture shown: Maria Pabloto Deli and Grocery bodega where the shooting occurred

The number of shootings across the city is spiraling out of control. There were 33 shootings in just seven days between June 7 and 13th. Over the course of 28 years, there were 146 and there have been 634 this year

Eric Adams speaks after meeting with family of kids in Bronx shootout

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• • Eric Adams is offering a $2,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the gunman who opened fire near a pair of children on a Bronx sidewalk
  • 'I'm not going back to the day where our babies were waking up to gunshots and not an alarm clock,' said Adams, 'Where we normalize the violence in this city.' 
  • A masked gunman opened fire in the Bronx Thursday evening and nearly shot two innocent children in the process 

• The victim, a man in a red sweater who police believe was the intended targeted, is seen in surveillance footage trampling over the kids when he tried to run away
• At one point, all three were on the ground and trying to avoid the hail of gunfire
• The man was shot multiple times but is still alive, according to the NYPD
• Both children were miraculously unharmed and have no relation to the victim
• Crime continues to soar in New York City, and the violence is becoming more brazen and public

• The Democratic frontrunner in the NYC mayoral race, Eric Adams, is to front $2,000 of his own money as part of a reward to catch the gunman who terrorized a Bronx neighborhood, along with two young children, on Friday afternoon.

  'It tore me apart to watch those children scramble as gunshots were still going off,' Adams said at the scene of the shooting on Saturday.  

  'This is New York, not some third-world country. We can't be silent. Our silence is just as dangerous ... Our children must be safe.' 

  

  Eric Adams is offering a $2,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the gunman who opened fire near a pair of children on a Bronx sidewalk

  

  Shocking surveillance footage captured the moment two young children were trampled by a man as he tried to escape from a shooter who fired nearly a dozen bullets in the middle of a Bronx street and pointed his gun at the terrified kids 
  Horrifying moment kids are caught up in Bronx shooting

  Shocking video that was released by the NYPD on Friday, saw a boy and girl, believed to be around the ages of five and ten, walking together on the sidewalk before becoming embroiled in an attempted assassination of a person in a red sweater. 

  Adams urged anyone with information about the shooter to reach out to police or religious leaders and bring the wanted man to justice. 

  Police believe that Hassan Wright, 24, was the intended target.

  Wright suffered gunshot wounds to his back and both legs but as he attempted to escape with his life, he knocked down the two children all the while the gunman continued to shoot several times in their direction.

  At one point, the supposed target manages to get up but then trips over the youngsters before crawling over them to get away. 

  

  'I'm not going back to the day where our babies were waking up to gunshots and not an alarm clock,' said Adams, 'Where we normalize the violence in this city.'

  

  The suspect momentarily retreated with the victim, Hassan Wright, 24, on the ground

  

  Then the gunman comes back for a closer shot and fires at the man with the two kids inches away from the victim

  'I am not going back to the days where our babies were waking up to gunshots and not alarm clocks, where we normalize the violence in this city.' Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, said during a press conference. 

  'So I am offering a personal reward to anyone who has information that would lead to apprehension and conviction of the individual who discharged those bullets at those babies. Because if he would do it to them, he would do it to your family members.'

  Adams spoke alongside Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz. The cash will be added to the NYPD's reward of $3500.

  The incident is the latest in nearly 150 shootings across the city this month and - where shootings have skyrocketed since the pandemic gripped the country.   

  According to the NYPD, the city reported 202 homicides this year through Friday — a 14% increase from 2020. The number of shootings jumped 57% so far in 2021, with 661 reported compared to 421 over the same period last year. 

  The man in the sweater was shot multiple times but is still alive, according to the NYPD, and amazingly, the children weren't shot or seriously injured. 

  The gunman ran from the scene and took off with another suspect on a scooter. 

  NYPD said it doesn't have a motive for Thursday evening's brazen attack on Sheridan Avenue in the Bronx.

  The children aren't related to the victim and were just walking in the area when the shooting started. 

  The sun was still up when the shooting happened in the middle of a sidewalk lined with storefronts and potential witnesses. 

  Anyone with information regarding the suspects whereabouts can call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS.

  

  NYPD say this man helped the gunman escape after he ran from the scene

  

  Statistics show shooting crimes have been up this year city-wide compared to last year

  

  Crimes have been rising throughout New York City, according to the NYPD

  The shooting marked a continuation of New York City's descent into a lawless free-for-all where random attacks in the street happen nearly every day. 

  Felony assaults are up eight percent for the first six months of 2021, compared to the same period last year, rapes are up by 10 percent and robberies - which includes muggings - have spiked by nearly 40 percent this month.  

  The numbers are disturbing in themselves, but the violence has intensified and taken place in public places, like parks and subways, and in front of witnesses and surveillance cameras. 

  On Monday, an unidentified man attacked two people with a rock after an argument became physical on a Brooklyn-bound subway.

  One of the victims was rushed to the hospital with bruising to the head and knee, and the other victim was treated at the scene, according to police.

   On Thursday, a 15-year-old was stabbed to death by a 48-year-old man over a parking spot in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. 

  The victim, Tory Lovick, was pronounced dead at the hospital, and the suspect's identity will be released after he's formally charged, the NYPD said. 

  These are examples of individual acts of violence, but there are even larger crime-related issues plaguing the city.  

  New York's Washington Square Park has been plagued by a string of after-dark raves, which have often descended into chaos and violence leaving nearby residents furious.

  On Friday night a woman was left bloodied and bruised after being trampled on by terrified crowds trying to flee a man armed with a large knife and a taser.

  The man with the knife and taser is alleged to be Jason McDermott, 42, sources told DailyMail.com. McDermott has been arrested at least 10 times between 2010 and 2014, the sources said.

  Now locals have told how the park changes after dark, from a calm, relaxing atmosphere during the day to chaos when the sun goes down.

  As the raves at the park have escalated, there have been claims of prostitution and public sexual acts, historic pot smoking escalated to hard drugs, and claims of people carrying weapons like baseball bats. 

  

  The woman was seen with blood pouring from her face Friday night ad NYPD officers went to her aid in the park

  

  A man was seen handcuffed and being led away by police following the incident in the historic park; police said they arrested the suspect

  

  On Monday, mayor Bill De Blasio downplayed the chaos at Washington Square Park in recent weeks, telling reporters that he believes the situation will resolve itself ‘naturally’

  

  The New York City man behind out-of-control raves in Washington Square Park has said that fed-up wealthy residents should be the ones to leave. Partygoers are pictured on June 10 

  

  Two women are seen dancing during a massive rave in Washington Square Park last Friday. Local residents say anti-social behavior is making their lives unbearable