Teen Shot In Neck Covers $82K Medical Costs With Help From Baysiders

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Baysiders rallied to help cover the medical expenses of a 14-year-old who was shot in the neck during what is believed to be gang-related gunfire, according to police and reports.

Kaitlyn Lau, 14, was walking on 188th Street with some other teens last Thursday when a group of people approached them, one opening fire and hitting Lau in the neck, according to the NYPD.

First responders rushed Lau to the hospital, police said, but the bullet had already lodged itself in her spinal cord, leaving her in stable but critical condition and likely paralyzing her from the neck down for life, according to a fundraiser organized on behalf of the girl's medical expenses.

The fundraiser has since been closed after raising over $82,000 due, in part, to Baysiders, who shared the page on Facebook in the aftermath of the shooting.

One neighbor identified Lau as "one of Bayside's very own," noting that she went to a local middle school and Francis Lewis High School, located several blocks away from where the shooting occurred in Fresh Meadows.

Lau was walking to get an after school snack with some friends at the time of the shooting, according to the fundraiser.

Law enforcement sources told the New York Post that the teenage girl was probably the victim of gang-related gunfire not intended for her.

Neighbors, likewise, were shocked to hear that Lau was caught in the crossfire.

"I’m definitely in shock! She’s a great kid! They’re a beautiful family. They have two kids, they’re all very hardworking, oh my God! This is very scary," Fedora Gurrero, a tenant of Lau's family, told the Post. "I have a 10 yr old daughter. [If] this happened in this neighborhood. It can, anywhere. Oh my God."

News of the shooting comes amid several recent, high-profile instances of gun violence in northeast Queens.

On March 19, gunfire erupted near 208th Street in Bayside, hurting one teenager, in a shootout that neighbors and politicians have blamed on a group of so-called squatters living nearby.

A little over a week later, a local high school went into lockdown after a teenager was shot by a fellow student, spurring calls for gun violence prevention measures by local leaders.

Gun violence in New York City, though, fell citywide in April, according to new NYPD data.