A 14-year-old boy who lived to skate was shot at the Bryant Park rink Saturday night — and may have been left paralyzed as a result, family members said Saturday.
A gunman standing outside the packed rink on W. 40th St. and Fifth Ave. opened fire at about 11 p.m., hitting Adonis Mera in the back as he looped around the rink.
[h=4]Raghuram Krishnamachari[/h][h=4]Twitter user Raghuram Krishnamachari took this photo of a person lying motionless on the Bryant Park skating rink.[/h]
A second unidentified victim, a Hispanic man in his 20s, was hit in the arm and is expected to recover, but the teen’s family fear Adonis may never walk again.
“He can’t move anything from the waist down,” his brother, Jorge Arias, 29, told the Daily News outside of Bellevue Hospital.
[h=4]Alec Tabak for New York Daily News[/h][h=4]One of two victims of the shooting at the Bryant Park skating rink is carried into an ambulance Saturday night.[/h]
Arias said Adonis enjoyed going ice skating with his friends and even wrote about his plans to visit Bryant Park on Facebook.
RELATED: FOUR WOUNDED IN PAIR OF SHOOTINGS
[h=4]Alec Tabak for New York Daily News[/h][h=4]Cops inspect the scene of a double shooting at the ice rink in Bryant Park.[/h]
“(Like my status) if U going to Bryant Park?” he wrote at 3:45 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Then, at 10:37 p.m. – less than a half an hour before he was shot – he wrote, “Bryant dead a--packed!!!”
Family members believe the avid skater wasn’t the shooter’s target — he was just an innocent bystander.
[h=4]Sam Costanza for New York Daily News[/h][h=4]A distraught woman is comforted outside of the skating rink where the shooting took place.[/h]
“Some people just started shooting and he got hit,” Arias said. “He had nothing to do with it. He was with friends. He always goes ice skating with his friends.”
Witnesses said a gunman standing outside the packed rink fired off the crippling shots.
[h=4]Sam Costanza[/h][h=4]Police secure the scene at Bryant Park in the ice skating rink, where at least two people were shot.[/h]
“He was targeting someone,” said Justin Figueroa, 17, of the Bronx. “The shooter was serious. He shot three times and then he left running.
RELATED: GUNMAN SHOOTS TWO STATEN ISLAND TEENS AT BUS STOP
[h=4]Sam Costanza for New York Daily News[/h][h=4]Justin Figueroa witnessed the shooting at the Bryant Park ice rink. 'I thought I was gonna die,' said the 17-year-old from the Bronx.[/h]
“I thought I was gonna die,” Figueroa added. “I ran all the way across the rink. I pushed over a couple of people, then I jumped over the railing.”
“People were yelling and there was a stampede,” said Marymount Manhattan student Elizabeth Holmberg, 20, who was on the ice when it happened.
[h=4]Sam Costanza[/h][h=4]The scene of the shooting at Bryant Park. An FDNY spokesman said paramedics were treating one person at the rink.[/h]
“I ran to the closet and I called 911,” said fellow Marymount student Danielle Behrens, 21. “There was a girl in the bathroom with blood on her nose.”
“It was so terrifying,” she said.
[h=4]Sam Costanza for New York Daily News[/h][h=4]Police and EMS personnel rush to the scene of the shooting at the ice skating rink in Bryant Park.[/h]
Raghuram Krishnamachari, 29, was dining at Celsius, a second-floor restaurant above the rink, when he heard three shots.
RELATED: 1 DEAD, 5 WOUNDED IN CONNECTICUT STRIP CLUB SHOOTING
[h=4]Sam Costanza for New York Daily News[/h][h=4]Police secured the scene of the shooting on the ice skating rink in Bryant Park, where at least two people were injured.[/h]
“Two people in the rink just fell down,” Krishnamachari said. “Then everyone started running.”
After a few moments, only two people were on the ice, Krishnamachari said.
[h=4]Marc A. Hermann for New York Daily News[/h][h=4]Police and bystanders at scene where two people were shot at the ice skating rink in Bryant Park.[/h]
“Then one guy got up and walked to the exit,” he said. “The other guy was still lying on the floor.”
Panicked skaters couldn’t find their things because so many people were trying to get their belongings out of the checked items area, Holmberg said.
[h=4]Sam Costanza[/h][h=4]The shooter was still at large early Sunday morning.[/h]
"They couldn't find our stuff for the longest time because they thought that someone ran off with it,” she said. “I won’t be back this season for sure.”
RELATED: 4 PEOPLE SHOT AT CLUB SOB'S ON VARICK ST.
[h=4]Sam Costanza for New York Daily News[/h][h=4]The door to the ice skating pavilion at Bryant Park was secured after the gunfire erupted Saturday night.[/h]
Bronx resident Dashawn Robinson, 19, who was also on the rink when the shots rang out, said someone swiped several bags from the checked items area in the confusion.
“After the gunshots, everybody started running to get their stuff and grabbing other people's bags."
[h=4]Craig Warga/New York Daily News[/h][h=4]Children skate on the rink in Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan. Two people were reportedly shot at the ice rink late Friday night.[/h]
Detectives were hunting for the gunman early Sunday morning.
Cops were scouring the posh neighborhood in search of a black male with dreadlocks dressed in a red hooded shirt. A man in different clothing was seen handcuffed, but police could not provide details on whether he was connected to the shooting.
The violence took place just nine days after the prized rink ringed by holiday shops opened for the season.
RELATED: 2 DEAD, 8 HURT AT SEPARATE SHOOTINGS ACROSS NYC
Claudia Lee, 32, was having drinks with friends at Celsius when she saw a horde of young people sprinting away from the rink.
“We thought there was an earthquake because so many people were running,” said Lee, of Jersey City. People were yelling, ‘Someone got shot.’”
Cynthia Del Toro, 17, said she was on the ice when she heard “three bangs.”
“It was the most terrifying thing,” said Del Toro, of the Bronx.
Bryant Park is not one of the parks the NYPD tracks crime stats for, so it is unknown what the crime situation is in the park.
As of Oct. 27, there’s been only one shooting in Midtown South, where the park is located.
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On a mobile device? Watch the video here.
A gunman standing outside the packed rink on W. 40th St. and Fifth Ave. opened fire at about 11 p.m., hitting Adonis Mera in the back as he looped around the rink.
A second unidentified victim, a Hispanic man in his 20s, was hit in the arm and is expected to recover, but the teen’s family fear Adonis may never walk again.
“He can’t move anything from the waist down,” his brother, Jorge Arias, 29, told the Daily News outside of Bellevue Hospital.
Arias said Adonis enjoyed going ice skating with his friends and even wrote about his plans to visit Bryant Park on Facebook.
RELATED: FOUR WOUNDED IN PAIR OF SHOOTINGS
“(Like my status) if U going to Bryant Park?” he wrote at 3:45 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Then, at 10:37 p.m. – less than a half an hour before he was shot – he wrote, “Bryant dead a--packed!!!”
Family members believe the avid skater wasn’t the shooter’s target — he was just an innocent bystander.
“Some people just started shooting and he got hit,” Arias said. “He had nothing to do with it. He was with friends. He always goes ice skating with his friends.”
Witnesses said a gunman standing outside the packed rink fired off the crippling shots.
“He was targeting someone,” said Justin Figueroa, 17, of the Bronx. “The shooter was serious. He shot three times and then he left running.
RELATED: GUNMAN SHOOTS TWO STATEN ISLAND TEENS AT BUS STOP
“I thought I was gonna die,” Figueroa added. “I ran all the way across the rink. I pushed over a couple of people, then I jumped over the railing.”
“People were yelling and there was a stampede,” said Marymount Manhattan student Elizabeth Holmberg, 20, who was on the ice when it happened.
“I ran to the closet and I called 911,” said fellow Marymount student Danielle Behrens, 21. “There was a girl in the bathroom with blood on her nose.”
“It was so terrifying,” she said.
Raghuram Krishnamachari, 29, was dining at Celsius, a second-floor restaurant above the rink, when he heard three shots.
RELATED: 1 DEAD, 5 WOUNDED IN CONNECTICUT STRIP CLUB SHOOTING
“Two people in the rink just fell down,” Krishnamachari said. “Then everyone started running.”
After a few moments, only two people were on the ice, Krishnamachari said.
“Then one guy got up and walked to the exit,” he said. “The other guy was still lying on the floor.”
Panicked skaters couldn’t find their things because so many people were trying to get their belongings out of the checked items area, Holmberg said.
"They couldn't find our stuff for the longest time because they thought that someone ran off with it,” she said. “I won’t be back this season for sure.”
RELATED: 4 PEOPLE SHOT AT CLUB SOB'S ON VARICK ST.
Bronx resident Dashawn Robinson, 19, who was also on the rink when the shots rang out, said someone swiped several bags from the checked items area in the confusion.
“After the gunshots, everybody started running to get their stuff and grabbing other people's bags."
Detectives were hunting for the gunman early Sunday morning.
Cops were scouring the posh neighborhood in search of a black male with dreadlocks dressed in a red hooded shirt. A man in different clothing was seen handcuffed, but police could not provide details on whether he was connected to the shooting.
The violence took place just nine days after the prized rink ringed by holiday shops opened for the season.
RELATED: 2 DEAD, 8 HURT AT SEPARATE SHOOTINGS ACROSS NYC
Claudia Lee, 32, was having drinks with friends at Celsius when she saw a horde of young people sprinting away from the rink.
“We thought there was an earthquake because so many people were running,” said Lee, of Jersey City. People were yelling, ‘Someone got shot.’”
Cynthia Del Toro, 17, said she was on the ice when she heard “three bangs.”
“It was the most terrifying thing,” said Del Toro, of the Bronx.
Bryant Park is not one of the parks the NYPD tracks crime stats for, so it is unknown what the crime situation is in the park.
As of Oct. 27, there’s been only one shooting in Midtown South, where the park is located.
[email protected]
On a mobile device? Watch the video here.