A three-year-old girl was left fighting for her life after a bullet fired from a gun in the next-door apartment went through a wall and hit her in her hand and stomach.

Wanted killer Gary Jones had opened fire on police as they turned up to arrest him in Ridge, New York, for the murder of his girlfriend.

But three of the bullets penetrated the shared wall, with one hitting victim Lovely Toney as she bounced on the sofa on 22nd August.

The bullet went into her abdomen after passing clean through her hand, say police chiefs.

Quick-thinking cops saved her life by using their patrol car to rush the blood-soaked tot straight to a nearby hospital, report local media.

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said: “Timely manoeuvre of getting that three-year-old child into a vehicle, rushing to a hospital and, if you ask me, saving that child’s life.”

Moments before the shooting, police had arrived to seize Jones over the killing of his girlfriend in Central Islip in June.

Harrison said: “Jones immediately started firing multiple shots at our detectives.

“Three rounds went into an adjacent apartment and struck our three-year-old victim.”

Lovely’s dad, James Toney, recalled the horror moment he realised his daughter had been shot.

He said: “I turned around and my daughter was standing there with blood running.

“She just jumped on the couch, and she must have had her hand up, because the shot went through the hand, through the stomach.”

The police stand-off ended when Jones shot himself dead.

At the time of reporting, Lovely required further surgery but was stable and expected to make a full recovery.

Police believe the gun used in the shooting was the same weapon Jones allegedly killed his girlfriend with.

Relieved dad James had nothing but praise for the police involved.

He said: “Good officers. They put my daughter in a squad car and kept everything good.

“They did their job and took her to the hospital safely.”