Eleven-year-old Kyhara Tay, of Cambodian and Puerto Rican heritage, was killed by a stray bullet in the Bronx on May 16, 2022. She was waiting for friends outside a nail salon on Westchester Avenue when gunfire erupted nearby; two teenagers on a scooter were chasing and shooting at a 13-year-old boy and Kyhara was struck in the stomach. Mortally wounded, she ran into the salon for help, collapsed, and later died at a nearby hospital.

Police identified the two people on the scooter as 15-year-old Matthew Godwin and 18-year-old Omar Bojang. Godwin was identified as the shooter and Bojang as the driver. Godwin was arrested on May 20 at a hotel where he was staying with his mother; Bojang turned himself in on May 23. Both were charged with murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon, and a grand jury later indicted them for Kyhara’s murder and the attempted murder of the 13-year-old who had been chased.

Kyhara’s death sparked community outrage and left her family grieving the future she was denied. If anyone has information about what happened that afternoon, please share it with the NYPD Detective Squad handling the case.