Police said Antiq Hennis was being pushed in a stroller by his mother and father while crossing a street in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn about 7:20 p.m. Sunday when shots were fired and the boy was struck.
Authorities said the child was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital with a gunshot wound to the left side of his face but did not survive his injuries. He was declared dead at the hospital.
"I heard three to four shots. ... I saw a man with a stroller screaming: 'My baby got shot! My baby got shot,' " witness Gina Gamboa, 23, told the New York Post.
"He was going crazy."
Bishop Willie Billops of the Church of Faith, Hope and Charity, who knows the boy's father, told The Post that he drove the parents to the hospital to identify the body of their only child.
"I'm outraged at the murder of a 1-year-old baby," Billops said.
"I grew up in this neighborhood and I've seen a lot - but this is the worst."
Police have not made any arrests and haven't released any other preliminary details from their investigation.
The boy's family could not immediately be reached.
Three-year-old Tharell Edward was shot in the head and wounded Aug. 24 as he slept in his family's Brooklyn apartment where an acquaintance was watching him.
Akeem Bernard, a friend of the baby sitter, was charged in the shooting.