SENSELESS: Beloved Queens 14-year-old Daja Robinson (above) was killed by a bullet that came through a bus window in Jamaica.
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The tragic 14-year-old girl who was fatally shot on a Queens bus after a Sweet 16 party had left the bash early to help out her best friend, pals said yesterday.
“She was supposed to go to another Sweet 16 party with us, but she left because her best friend lost her money and wanted to go home. She’s dead because she got on the wrong bus at the wrong time,” said grieving pal Tamia McDaniel of Daja Robinson.
Shaquana Almonds, Robinson’s best friend with whom she left the party, told The Post how the two were sitting together near the back of the city Q6 bus at around 9 p.m. Saturday when gunfire rang out along Sutphin Boulevard in Jamaica.
Police said the shooting may have been gang-related and Robinson was not the intended target.
“I was with her on the bus.” Almonds, 16, said. “We just heard, ‘He’s got a gun! Get down! Everyone get down!’ Then, boom! Boom! Boom! Pop! Pop! Pop! The bus got sprayed, and Daja was the only one who got hit.
“She was so innocent and so sweet,’’ Almonds said. “She just wanted to be loved.”
Daja died a short time later at Jamaica Hospital.
McDaniel said everyone had been “dancing together” at the Sweet 16 party only minutes before the tragedy.
“She was so happy,’’ McDaniel said of Daja. “That’s what she loved to do.”
Cops, who were still searching for a suspect, said nine .40-caliber shell casings were found on the ground outside the bus.
Investigators also were checking surveillance video from the surrounding area.
“This is absolutely terrible, a senseless shooting of a young girl who should be having the time of her life,” said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. “It was a happy affair. There were no problems at the party.”
Kelly said there were also reports of gunfire near the club about 90 minutes earlier, but he said it was unclear if that incident was related.
Mourners crowded Daja’s South Jamaica home yesterday, where relatives said Daja’s mother, Shadia, was inconsolable.
Friends and relatives who made it to the second party were stunned when they got the news.
“We just got to the second party when my friend’s mother called to see if we were with Daja,” said the victim’s cousin Yasmin Marrow, 16.
“She told us that she had gotten shot on the bus. I haven’t stopped crying since. I just fell out when I heard. All of us just got together and rushed home. I still can’t believe it. She was the best one out of all of us.”
Additional reporting by Reuven Fenton and Leonard Greene