text: IRVINGTON — A fierce gun battle on an Irvington street led to the shooting death Saturday of a 15-month-old girl, who was struck by a stray bullet as she played inside her home, witnesses said today. 
   
   The witnesses described a chaotic shootout that led to the girl's death, with two men exchanging gunfire with a group of three men. 
   
   "They were hiding behind cars, shooting back and forth," said Ivery Muhammad, 19, who lives a few houses from 84 Ellis Ave., where Sania Cunningham was struck by a round that tore through the wall of the home. 
   
   The gunfight left a host of bullet holes in the area, including four in the house where Sania lived, one in a Lexus parked on the street and another in a neighbor’s air conditioner. One of them, on the second floor of 84 Ellis Ave., was left by the bullet that struck Sania. 
   
   The family had just moved in, neighbors said. The girl was rushed to Newark Beth-Israel Saturday afternoon, but was pronounced dead at the hospital. 
   
   Barbara Motley, whose Lexus had a bullet hole in the trunk, said the area has been plagued by violence for years. 
   
   “It’s like the O.K. Corral around here,” she said. 
   
   Greg Dutton, who lives with his 4-year-old son on Ellis Avenue, said he heard several shots while he was in the house. 
   
   “It could have been anybody,” he said. 
   
   Thomas Ellis, a Newark minister and the founder and president of the anti-violence group Enough is Enough Coalition, arrived in the neighborhood Sunday morning to comfort residents. His organization organizes marches, rallies and vigils after shootings. 
   
   “I sure hope that whoever did this is caught or they turn themselves in so the community can feel safe and so the family can get justice,” Ellis said. 
   
   The Essex County Prosecutor's Office has scheduled a press conference on the shooting at 11:30 a.m. 
   
   The Essex County Sheriff's Crime Stoppers is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. The tipline is (973) 877-TIPS. 
   
   Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. ||||| IRVINGTON, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) — The family of a 15-month-old girl who was killed by a stray bullet inside her home Saturday had just moved into the Irvington apartment two days before, authorities said. 
   
   Essex County Acting Prosecutor Carolyn Murray told reporters Sunday outside the home at 84 Ellis Ave. that police are looking for three men who were wearing black hooded sweatshirts and fired their handguns multiple times, striking two homes and a vehicle. 
   
   One of the bullets penetrated a wall of the family’s second-floor apartment and struck Sania Cunningham while she was bouncing on a bed with her parents nearby, WCBS 880’s Monica Miller reported. 
   
   $10K Reward Offered In Stray Bullet Killing Of Irvington, NJ, Toddler Monica Miller reports playpause 
   
   Sania was shot in the torso just after 4:30 p.m. Saturday and then taken to Newark Beth Israel Medical Centerl, where she was pronounced dead about a half-hour later. 
   
   Authorities said they do not believe the Cunninghams were the intended target. Police and prosecutors are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. 
   
   According to witnesses, the shooters fired a hail of bullets, CBS 2’s Janelle Burrell reported. 
   
   One bullet hit Barbara Motley’s SUV. 
   
   “I had not too long ago got out of the car,” she said. 
   
   Two others struck a window and an air conditioner in Issam Houston’s home, inches from where his mother sleeps. 
   
   “It went right to the left side of her headboard right behind her dresser,” he said. 
   
   Earlier Sunday, Anthony Ambrose with the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office told Miller investigators were talking to witnesses and looking through surveillance video in their search for the shooter. 
   
   “There were several shots that were fired on the block,” Ambrose told Miller. “There were several ballistic evidence that were recovered. One bullet did pierce the house that pierced the baby.” 
   
   Neighbor Darryl Bailey, who had to be escorted to his home because of the investigation, said drug violence is a big problem on Ellis Avenue. 
   
   “This is sickening,” he said. “If you can’t actually be safe in your home, where you can actually be safe at?” 
   
   Neighbors said it’s especially disturbing that the shooting happened during daylight hours. 
   
   “Once you found out, it was like, ‘Wow, that’s real sad,'” said Chris Johnson. “And this was in daytime — broad daylight this happened.” 
   
   “It’s a shame, man,” Dwayne Harrison said. “You can’t do anything. You’re in your apartment. You’re behind your walls. You’re trying to protect your family. 
   
   “It’s a shame that, one, for gunshots to keep happening,” Harrison added. “Nobody really wants to do anything about where the guns are coming from.” 
   
   Minister Thomas Ellis, of Newark, doesn’t know the family, but he stopped by Sunday to put an orange sign outside the home that reads “Enough is Enough!” 
   
   “Whoever done this here, please turn yourself in,” he said. 
   
   Investigators said it will take the public’s help to solve the case, and are urging anyone with information to come forward. 
   
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   ||||| IRVINGTON, N.J. — Sania Cunningham, 15 months, was bouncing up and down on a bed — the kind of game that can bring a toddler to uncontrollable giggles. 
   
   Then a stray bullet tore through a wall of the apartment and into the little girl, taking her life as her parents looked on in horror. 
   
   They had just moved in, arriving two days earlier to live with relatives in a second-floor apartment in the house, officials said. 
   
   But if the age of the victim, and the presence of the news media and the county prosecutor were unusual, the violence was not, neighbors said. 
   
   Ellis Avenue has been plagued by violence, said Isaam Houston, a 32-year-old visual artist whose family’s home was struck by the same spate of gunfire on Saturday afternoon. Often, he said, one could see stray balloons, the remnants of someone’s memorial. “We’re surrounded by balloons, and there’s not a party in sight,” he said. The street has turned up regularly in police reports in recent years as the scene of numerous shootings. 
   
   Photo 
   
   Neighboring Newark, the state’s largest city, often attracts attention for its violence. But a few of northern New Jersey’s smaller municipalities, among them Irvington and Paterson, also endure considerable crime. In Paterson, a 14-year-old girl was fatally shot last month and a 12-year-old was shot to death in July. 
   
   As in those cases, the shooting on Saturday here drew an outpouring of concern and anger. 
   
   On Sunday, investigators swarmed the street. Some residents complained that it took a toddler’s death to bring attention to a place that is under siege. 
   
   Essex County Sheriff’s CrimeStoppers is offering $10,000 for information. Mayor Tony Vauss posted condolences on his Facebook page. He also wrote that the township recently received $1 million to hire more police officers. 
   
   Investigators were searching for three men who were wearing hooded sweatshirts as they fired multiple shots on the block. Carolyn A. Murray, the acting Essex County prosecutor, said bullets struck the home where the toddler was staying, the Houston family’s house and a car. She spoke at a news conference on Sunday morning. It was unclear if the gunmen were firing at each other, randomly or at a target. 
   
   Mr. Houston grew up in a house across the street from the home where his family now lives. He said he has remained in an apartment on the same block “to keep an eye on” his family. He was not there on Saturday, when one bullet pierced his mother’s bedroom. She was at a church retreat, Mr. Houston said, and was so shaken that she refused to return on Sunday. 
   
   “I’ve seen the downward spiral between the drug activity, the gang activity,” Mr. Houston said. “You see this neighborhood destroying itself.” 
   
   Still, some residents were sitting on their porches. Some homes were decorated for Halloween and autumn. But several houses were boarded up with broken windows. 
   
   At the home where Sania was shot, a bright orange sign that said “Enough is Enough” was affixed to the door with duct tape. 
   
   Just after Mr. Houston showed reporters the bullet holes in his family’s house, Katherine Lara arrived to pay her condolences, though she did not know the family. 
   
   Ms. Lara said the gunfire on Saturday had awakened her from a nap. “I was screaming, ‘My girls, my girls, my girls,’ ” she said. “Bullets don’t have no eyes.” Her daughters are ages 5, 10 and 17. 
   
   In front of the fence, she left a pink stuffed star that played “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,”, a candle and a balloon that said “Princess.”
target: – "We're surrounded by balloons, and there's not a party in sight," says a resident of Ellis Avenue in Irvington, NJ, to the New York Times. The memorial balloons he's referring to are for victims of the ongoing violence in his neighborhood—including 15-month-old Sania Cunningham, who died Saturday when a stray bullet from outside pierced the wall of her apartment while she was bouncing on a bed with her parents, CBS New York reports. Police are now seeking out a group of men (some reports say three were involved, others say five) who allegedly infiltrated the community in "black hooded sweatshirts" and went on a shooting spree that hit at least two houses and a car. Residents tell the Star-Ledger that there was a "chaotic shootout," with the suspects "hiding behind cars, shooting back and forth," according to one witness. A woman whose Lexus ended up with a bullet hole in the trunk says the violence is nothing new in the neighborhood, adding, "It’s like the OK Corral around here." Essex County authorities are offering a $10,000 reward for info leading to an arrest for Sania's death, while Irvington Mayor Tony Vauss stresses that the township has a recent $1 million influx to put toward hiring additional police officers, notes the Times. In the meantime, neighbors of the Cunninghams—who had just moved in two days before the shooting—remain disturbed about the incident that took place in the middle of the day. "This is sickening—if you can't actually be safe in your home, where [can you] actually be safe at?" one resident says to CBS New York. (A Philly woman and her unborn child were killed by a stray bullet last month.)