Police say a 7-year-old girl was shot Saturday while playing in the back yard of a home in Hempstead.

Radaia Simmons said her 7-year-old daughter was shot in the arm while playing on her scooter with her 3-year-old brother in the back yard. That's when witnesses say a person started shooting along Evans Avenue just before 3 p.m.

"The bullet they got out of her coat they said they don't know why her arm ain't broke. It wasn't no little thing, these people just out here shooting," Simmons said.

Detectives and crime scene officers collected evidence up and down the block for several hours and Nassau police said the investigation is ongoing.

A neighbor said their security camera snapped a photo of who they say is the shooter.

Simmons said that she doesn't believe her daughter was targeted, but rather that the shooter was firing at some people standing in the street.

The girl's grandmother, Patricia Simmons, said the child is traumatized.

"She said 'why did they shoot me? Why did they shoot me. Who shot me?' she doesn't even know," the grandmother said.

The 7-year-old was taken to Mercy Hospital for treatment.

Witnesses said the suspect ran through a neighbor's back yard to escape.

"It's pretty bad because this neighborhood here is really bad. That's why we don't go out anymore, just stay home," said neighbor Remigio Maldonado.

Some residents who live in the block, including the grandmother of the girl who was shot, said that the shooting in broad daylight may be the last straw.

"I'm moving. I can't live around here, I can't do this no more. I have got to go because if my granddaughter can't come visit me, what's the point? She's never going to want to come over here again," the grandmother said.

The victim's mother said her daughter was released from the hospital and is doing OK.