A 15-year-old innocent bystander who is recovering in hospital after taking a bullet to the leg at a Queens park is a “tough little kid,” a relative told The Post Wednesday.
The girl and three others, including a 16-year-old boy, were all shot when they got caught in the crossfire of two feuding gunmen at the London Planetree Playground on Tuesday, police said.
“She was with some people she knew. She got caught in the middle of the park,” her brother, Kevin Castaneda, 26, said outside their Queens home.
“The last thing on my mind was that it was her because I thought she was on her laptop. The next thing I hear is my brother calling me and saying they’re in Long Island Hospital.
“I can’t wrap my head around it because it’s my little sister and I’m supposed to protect her,” he said, adding that he’d been in the same park just 20 minutes earlier walking his dog.
The brother said he had warned his little sister about avoiding the park at night.
The shooting unfolded at about 6:20 p.m. when the innocent bystanders were standing near the handball court inside the park, according to law enforcement sources.
“It kind of went sideways yesterday so we are a little beat up on that,” Castaneda said of the shooting.
The teen girl suffered a gunshot wound to her left thigh and remained in hospital through Wednesday.
“She’s doing good,” her brother said. “My little sister is a tough little kid.”
The 16-year-old boy was shot in the lower back and was taken to the same hospital as the girl.
A 20-year-old man was shot twice in the right leg and once in the left leg, while a 32-year-old man was shot once in the left ankle. Both were taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.
No arrests have been made.
One of the suspects is believed to have fled the park in a black Mercedes Benz SUV, sources said.