The niece of Fox Business anchor Charles Payne was hit by a stray bullet during a shooting earlier this month on the Harlem street where she grew up, the journalist revealed on air Wednesday.
Payne, 61, said her niece Keisha Williams, 39, attended a sidewalk memorial for the son of a friend who was shot and killed by a masked gunman on May 6. It is said that he was doing so.
“They came with masks, they started shooting guns, and an entire apartment on the third floor was destroyed,” Payne said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” explaining that he believed the attackers were “looking for another gang member.”
Williams and a 63-year-old woman, who Payne said was a longtime friend, were shot.
Police sources said the two women were unintended targets.
Both victims were taken to hospital in stable condition, but Payne’s niece required a four-hour operation to treat her wounds.
“Our country is really becoming divided in places where the wealthy are doing amazingly well… They are safe,” Payne said. “And the rest of us, whether it’s places like my neighborhood where the opioid epidemic is out of control…”
“This gang violence is really amazing. I didn’t expect it to be this bad,” he said.
Police said no arrests had been made in the shooting as of late Wednesday night.
Payne joined “Fox & Friends” to talk about Donald Trump’s plans to hold a campaign rally in the South Bronx on Thursday, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez telling reporters that the rally was a big deal for the former president. He commented on what he said was “disgraceful”.
“He can’t leave the five boroughs because he has to be in the courtroom all the time,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I look forward to seeing the response of Bronxites who are talking every day about what they think about him coming to their backyard.”
Payne, meanwhile, said she was pleased that President Trump was holding the rally and hoped he would visit Harlem in the wake of the shooting close to home.
“I’m excited that President Trump is going to Harlem. I wish he would go to Harlem.”
