Even a father holding his baby isn’t safe from gun violence in the city.
A Bronx dad was shot in the head while carrying his 1-year-old daughter in his arms on Tuesday — and his killer walked away laughing, sources and witnesses said.
Allen McQueen, 21, was taking his little girl to play in a park when the gunman approached them on Taylor Avenue near Guerlain Street in Parkchester around 1:30 p.m., cops said.
Witnesses said McQueen was struck while trying to shield the baby. He crumpled to the ground, sending daughter Taylor tumbling onto the sidewalk.
“The guy who got shot had the baby in his hands. He was trying to run for cover because he was trying to protect the little girl,” said Louis Mestre, 32.
“Once he got hit, he went down, and the child went down with him,” Mestre said.
“The guy who did the shooting was running away and laughing. He seemed like an insane person.”
The shooter fled in a Mercedes-Benz as a stranger rushed over and picked up the crying toddler.
“My first instinct was to get the baby,” said Arielle Corkery, 23, a mother of six. “When I got to her, she was full of blood. I didn’t know if it was her blood or her dad’s.”
McQueen, struck by one of three bullets the killer fired, was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Taylor was examined and released. She had no visible injuries as she was later carried into her family’s home by a female relative.
“The baby’s OK,’’ the woman said, refusing to comment further.
Another woman, who identified herself as the sister of the baby’s mother, said, “It’s a miracle she’s alive.”
“Allen was a good dad. He loved his daughter so much,” the woman added.
The relative said the child’s mother is “devastated right now.”
“[They weren’t] together in a relationship anymore, but they were on good terms,’’ she said of her sister and McQueen. “She said it’s sad that her daughter will grow up without her father.’’
McQueen had a rap sheet that included some 20 arrests for crimes from robbery to weapons possession, sources said. He was shot last summer and had a sealed arrest for attempted murder in 2014.
Police sources said his killing is believed to be gang-related.
“I’m just shocked that something like this would happen . . . because it involved a child,” Mestre said.
“But there has been a turf war going on here lately. This is such a dangerous place to live.”
Corkery said she plans to move out of the neighborhood, explaining, “I can’t be here with my kids . . . Why would you do that to somebody with a baby in their arms? That’s too much.”
Additional reporting by Larry Celona, Daniel Prendergast and Kenneth Garger