Metro

Boy, 4, shot for a coat

A gutless gunman arrested yesterday for shooting a toddler during a botched Bronx stick-up wanted the boy’s dad’s red leather jacket — because it resembled one recently stolen from him, police sources said yesterday.

The suspect Mauricio Acosta, 17, told cops his coat was swiped a few weeks earlier. the sources said.

Cincere Balthazar, 4, was shot once in the chest Tuesday night as his father, Bobby, brought him back to the University Heights women’s shelter where he lives with his mother.

Acosta and two other men approached the two, and the boy was shot during a struggle for the gun, the sources said.

Acosta dropped the weapon, and all three fled. But Balthazar ran after them, shooting suspect José Marte in the head. Marte was in critical condition at St. Barnabas Hospital.

The boy was transferred from St. Barnabas to Columbia-Presbyterian hospital yesterday, and remained listed in critical condition.

Acosta and an alleged accomplice, Jonathan Sanchez, were in custody.