The teenage girl hit by a stray bullet in a Brooklyn park opened her eyes Tuesday for the first time since undergoing brain surgery — but still has a long road to recovery, her mother told The Post.
Kyla Sobers, 16, also smiled and shook her head after doctors at New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital took her out of an induced coma, said her mom, Nadine Sobers.
“Today is a good day,” Nadine said, smiling. “My baby girl is doing better than she did yesterday, and she is still here with me and she is responding.”
“She is no longer in a coma anymore and that’s amazing, so amazing,” Nadine said.
It was a welcome sight for the weary mom, who has been sitting at her daughter’s bedside since the shocking Friday afternoon shooting in Boerum Hill.
Kyla, a junior at the Cobble Hill School of American Studies, was shot in the head at around 3 p.m. as she sat in Nicholas Naquan Heyward Jr. Park with friends.
Doctors operated on the teen to remove the bullet fragments that hit her, but some still remain lodged in her head, according to Nadine.
“That’s a wait-and-see,” the mom said outside the hospital. “They are hoping nothing moves.”
Still, Nadine was grateful for the hopeful sign on Tuesday.
When Kyla opened her eyes on her own, “I was like ‘Pumpkin head,’ ” the mom said, referring to her nickname, “and she smiled at me.”
“I was like, ‘My baby, you good?’ and she shook her head. So I said, ‘Well, then, if you are good, we are going to be good and I’m going to be here and I’m never going to leave you.’ “
While Nadine said she was “thankful” that her daughter’s condition is improving, she noted the spike in violence targeting young New Yorkers, and how some other families aren’t as lucky.
“It’s only when this happened to Kyla that I really looked into it … How many 16-year-olds … others that did not make it, that basically passed away in the time frame that my daughter got shot,” she said. “And it really shook me.”
Police on Monday released surveillance photos of three young men they believe are connected to the shooting that injured Kyla.
Asked about the suspects, Nadine had a message: “You are destroying people’s lives.”
“I would like these young men to understand exactly the type of hurt your decisions and choices can have on someone,” she said, “and you have to be held accountable for your actions.”
The mom thanked New Yorkers for their support during the family’s ordeal.
“The people of this city have shown me that where they consider it to be a concrete jungle, there are the most kindest, loving people,” Nadine said. “People I’ve never even known have reached out just to say, ‘I’m sorry, here is my words of encouragement.'”
“I want to thank them, my whole family wants to thank them for that — from the bottom of our hearts.”
