A 6-year-old boy, who was shot in the chest during a July 4th mass shooting on Coney Island, had never met his father, who was killed in a shooting before he was born. The child was one of eight individuals, including four children, injured when gunfire erupted at a family barbecue.

"My son just keeps saying that somebody shot him. But he’s only 6," the boy's mother, Ineisha Greene, told The Post. The family was gathered for an annual Independence Day cookout filled with music and fireworks. "Everybody was good still, music playing – fireworks still going on, kids around."

Around 10:30 p.m., the celebration turned chaotic as a gunman opened fire from behind a gate, according to police and Greene. The boy was reportedly sitting down to eat when he jumped up, screaming, and his mother initially mistook the injury for being hit by a firework. However, upon closer inspection, she discovered her son had sustained a gunshot wound to the chest. "I grabbed my son and I ran… in the house with my daughter in the other arm, and when I got in the house, I lifted up my son’s shirt and saw that he had a gunshot to his chest."

The child's father was fatally shot in The Bronx in 2019 while Greene was pregnant with their son. The family's history with gun violence has left the boy's mother questioning the motive behind the recent attack.

"My brother said he doesn’t understand why somebody [would] do this to the family," Greene said. "Why would you want to shoot into a crowd with nothing but kids? There’s more kids outside than anything."

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch stated that the shooting may have been retaliation for a fatal gang-related shooting on the same block earlier in the week. There were no signs of an argument or altercation at the barbecue before the shots were fired, according to Tisch and Greene.

Investigators recovered a Tec-9 style firearm with an extended magazine and 10 shell casings from the scene. The bullets reportedly ricocheted off the gate, striking several attendees.

The 6-year-old boy's injuries were not life-threatening, but he is recovering from lung damage and has visible wounds on his chest and wrist. His mother reported he is having trouble eating and drinking. "He still has damage to his lungs – he has bruises in his lungs," Greene said. "He has a hole in his chest and a hole on his side, on his wrist."

Among the other wounded were two other boys, ages 7 and 12, who are Greene's cousins. Her 21-year-old cousin was shot in the chest and remained in a coma. A 37-year-old man was shot in the shoulder, a 33-year-old man was hit in the chest, and a 25-year-old woman was struck in the leg. All were expected to survive.

As of Monday, no arrests had been made in connection with the holiday shooting. "I hope they catch the person that did this, and the person that did this needs to be under the jail," Greene stated. "You almost took my son’s life, that is 6 years old. My cousin is in the hospital fighting for her life for somebody else’s dumb bulls–t that they got going on that had nothing to do with my family."