Philadelphia shooting: Good Samaritan speaks out after taking 7-month-old injured in shooting to hospital
PHILADELPHIA - As a 7-month-old baby was shot, and his father the intended target, a Good Samaritan sprung into action to get the baby help.
"She starts screaming and she said, ‘My baby!’ and this girl turned around and just shot at her point-blank," Luis Berrios stated.
Berrios still cannot believe that he watched someone shot the baby right outside of his Northeast Philadelphia home, but he’s glad the woman police say was responsible is off the streets.
"It was like a John Wick movie," Berrios claimed. "She came in and just like, boom, boom, boom!"
28-year-old Dominique Billips is being charged with the shooting that left the baby boy, in his stroller, with a gunshot wound to the leg.
Berrios said, "I would be highly pissed if she were to get a plea deal or that she is released or a slap on the wrist."
Apparent narcotics debt leads to shooting that injures 7-month-old baby: officials
A woman is in custody after shooting at a couple, but striking their baby over what police say may have been a narcotics debt.
Philadelphia police released surveillance video of the Thursday night shooting on Friday. The video is hard to watch, yet police credit the video, along with tips from the community and detectives recognizing the suspect as a victim in another shooting in helping to track Billips down.
The shooting happened on Meridian Street, in Philly’s Holmesburg neighborhood, on Thursday, just before 6 p.m.
Lieutenant Dennis Rosenbaum, with the Philadelphia Police Shooting Investigations Group, stated, "It looks like this all stems from a $100 narcotics debt."
Investigators say the baby’s father, who can be seen in the video running away, was the intended target.
Suspect in custody, sources say, after Philly police release video showing suspect open fire on family
Disturbing new video shows the moment a woman walked up to a family on a Philadelphia sidewalk and began shooting at close range. The shooting left a 7-month-old baby boy injured. Multiple sources say a suspect is in custody.
Lt. Rosenbaum continued, "The mother and father had gone to the hospital, initially, had left that location. They were in fear of the police because they had some outstanding warrants. Approximately an hour later, when they got home, they called the police."
In the meantime, Berrios stepped up. "The mother was hysterical, started screaming. The dad, he came back fast and he started screaming, ‘He shot my baby, he shot my son!’ Nothing was on my mind, but to take the baby to the hospital."
Berrios is a father and a gun violence survivor. He says in the moment of the gunfire, he knew the two young parents needed someone to help. "I told them, ‘Trust me, I promise I’ll take care of your baby.’ I looked at social media saying she abandoned her baby, what mother would do that? She’s a 16-year-old girl. What was she supposed to do?"
He even stayed with the baby as he was transported to a trauma center. "He cried and I told him, ‘I’m sorry,’ and kinda rubbed his head and kissed his forehead and told him I’d protect him. He just looked at me. A soldier…that boy is strong. He’s okay, by the grace of God. But no child should go through that. No child should go through that."
Investigators say the parents were also brought in for questioning but they have a strong support system, so arrangements are being made for the baby to be released to the family.