New York man arrested for shooting of 7-year-old girl was free despite felony charge

The second suspect arrested over an incident where a 7-year-old New York City girl was hit by a stray bullet was free without bail despite being charged with felony robbery in February, according to police sources.

The young Shauntae Gibbs was with her mother, Tanaisha Green, outside a Coney Island deli on March 22 when a gunman open fire from a black sedan at three men standing nearby and inadvertently shot the girl in the abdomen, according to police.

The mother only realized her daughter had been hit after she complained about pain in her left side two hours later. She was quickly rushed to the hospital where she was treated for her injury.

A Brooklyn grand jury indicted Robert Cooper and Jaden Baskerville earlier this month, charging both with eight counts that included attempted murder, second-degree assault, second-degree possession of a weapon and first-degree criminal use of a firearm, according to the New York Post.

Baskerville was arrest last week, and Cooper on Monday. Both are being held on bail.

But sources informed the Post that Cooper had been arrested and accused of punching a 39-year-old man and stealing almost $50 worth of food on Feb. 13 in Staten Island, about a month before the Gibbs shooting.

Judge Gerianne Abriano released Cooper without bail over the objections of prosecutors, who asked he be held on $3,000 bail, according to sources and court records.

This meant Cooper was free to join Cooper in the drive-by shooting a few weeks later against members of a rival gang at the Brooklyn deli, accidentally hitting the young girl.

Police have not yet said whether Cooper or Baskerville was the shooter. 

Gibb’s grandmother said the girl and her mother are both “still traumatized” by the incident.

“I just thank God that she is OK, that’s the important part,” the woman told The Post, declining to give her name.

“This is not a good time,” she added.