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Yvette Marie Torres, 15, is in critical condition after she was shot in the head outside of a party.
A 15-year-old Bronx girl was hospitalized in critical condition Sunday after she challenged gunmen who had fired into the air - and one of them cowardly shot her, cops and her family said.
Yvette Marie Torres had gone to a party in Fordham Heights Saturday night. A dispute broke out and spilled onto the street, police said.
When two young men began squeezing off shots into the air, Torres, who developed a dauntless personality growing up with three brothers, quickly spoke her mind, her family said.
"My sister argued with them, saying: 'Why [are] you shooting?' " said her brother, Jonathan Dimentel, 20, recounting what witnesses told the family.
"She didn't know this kid. She turned around and he shot her in the back of the head," he said. "It was a sucker move."
Torres, who attends DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, was rushed by ambulance to St. Barnabas Hospital. She was initially in critical condition, but doctors were able to stabilize her, police said.
University Medical Center in Manhattan.Her brother said Torres was transferred to a pediatric intensive care unit at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia.
She was showing "good signs," but was still unconscious and breathing through a ventilator on Sunday afternoon.
The scene at 2396 Valentine Avenue, where Torres was shot after confronting a gunman. (Michael Schwartz for News)
"There's a high risk of her passing away," he said, noting doctors told the family they have to wait for swelling near her wound to go down before they can operate.
He said his mother and step-father won't leave her bedside.
"My dad won't say a word. He is in a daze. I've never seen him like this," Dimentel said. "All my mom does is cry."
There have been no arrests in the shooting, which happened about 11:35 p.m. Saturday on Valentine Ave.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said detectives only have a "vague description" of the suspect - a black man who wore a blue hooded sweatshirt.
A police source said investigators believe the dispute may have erupted when some would-be revelers were denied entry to the party. Torres was not involved in the initial dispute, the source added.
Dimentel said his sister had just arrived at the party when police showed up. He said he was not surprised she stood up to the gunmen.
"She has nothing but brothers," he said. "She has to be brave."
Jose Manuel Gonzalez, 33, said his younger brother, Angel, had thrown the party.
"The cops came in and said: 'Turn the music down!' " said Gonzalez, adding that he was in his room playing video games. "The cops kicked everybody out."
About 15 minutes later, Gonzalez said, cops came back to the apartment to ask him about the shooting. He said they took him and his brother to the 46th Precinct stationhouse.
Witnesses recalled hearing four shots ring out. Cookie Pinero, who lives across the street, said she came outside and saw Torres on the sidewalk.
"It's sad, so sad," she said. "She was a little girl with a bun in her hair. It's a shame."
Not saying she deserved it, but why open your mouth to someone with a gun in their hand?If i hear gunshots, i'm leaving. She tried to be superman and now is fighting for her life
