16-year-old boy shot in the ass near a playground in the Bronx

The teen was shot dead on Thursday when bullets were fired outside a playground in the Bronx, which locals say happens all too often.

A 16-year-old boy was shot in the buttocks a block from Willis Playground, which is adjacent to PS 049 Willis Avenue School.

Peter Herrera, 30, was playing football in the park when shooting started around 4:30 p.m.

“I was right here in the park when it all happened. I heard three or four shots,” he said.

The shooting caused panic among park visitors.

“When I heard the shots, we just packed our things,” Herrera said.

“I just saw people running. They’re like, “Oh my god.”

Police found a loaded firearm at the scene and said the teen was taken in stable condition to a Harlem hospital where the violence only continued.

Law enforcement sources told The Post that the three men attacked the victim’s 21-year-old brother in the hospital.

One man, aged 21, was arrested.

The attackers of the victim – both, according to the description, teenagers – are still on the run.

“This happens most of the time,” Herrera complained about the shooting in the Bronx.

“The NYPD should patrol the park more.”

The area site is less than 500 feet from the shooting site.

“The precinct is doing nothing to stop this,” Herrera said.

The shooting took place in one of the most heavily shot areas of the Big Apple.

Police said last year that the Mott Haven area had the highest number of firearms incidents of the entire area and was named one of New York City’s three most shot boroughs.

The shooting in broad daylight on Thursday left residents alarmed.

“It’s terrible,” said mum-of-two Marisol Ortiz.

“I have two small children here, so something is happening right next door… it’s sad. It’s sad that this happens so often.”

“It’s two blocks from the precinct, and there’s no one here. This isn’t the first time this has happened… it sucks,” she said, adding that she was in the backyard with her kids when the playground shooting happened last summer.

“Unfortunately, they are aware of what is happening in the area,” Ortiz said, referring to her two children.

“We play there. This is our place to play,” she said of the playground.