The recent outbreak of violence in the northwest Bronx continues. A four-year-old boy was shot during a botched robbery attempt in University Heights on Tuesday night. Last night, two hospital workers were struck by bullets when a gunman opened fire at Bronx Lebanon Hospital in Mount Eden.

Both of the hospital workers were in stable condition and were expected to be release. But the boy, Cincer Balthazar, is in critical but stable condition at Columbia University Medical Center while police sort out the gory details and local elected officials search for answers.

Details remain somewhat sketchy and differ according to reports, but this much is clear: Cincer’s father, Bobby Balthazar, had taken his son out for ice cream and was returning him to a homeless shelter near Grand Avenue and Evelyn Place where the boy lived with his mother. While walking back to the shelter, Balthazar was approached by three young men who tried to steal the father’s designer Pelle Pelle jacket at gunpoint.

The New York Times reported that one shot went up into the air and the another hit Cincer (Daily News said he was hit in the face, the Post said chest, Times didn’t say). Balthazar, a parolee who has done prison time on drug charges, then “wrestled” the gun away from the would-be mugger and, with his son bleeding on the street, he picked up the gun and chased after the attackers. Eventually, Balthazar fired off shots and hit 17-year-old Jose Marte in the neck. Marte, who yelled for an ambulance, was later found by police under a parked car and taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he is in stable condition.

Marte has not been charged, but another 17-year-old, Mauricio Acosta, was charged with attempted robbery, assault and criminal possession of a weapon. The News reported that police were still searching for another suspect.

Balthazar, who initially stashed the gun at his mother’s house but later told police where to find it, has not been charged. A spokesman for the Bronx District Attorney’s office said Balthazar “may have been justified in firing the shot.”

The shootings marked the fourth violent episode — including three murders — in the northwest Bronx’s 52nd Precinct in the last two weeks. On top of that, police said the shooting at Bronx Lebanon last night may have stemmed from a gang rivalry.

Today, Bronx Councilman Fernando Cabrera, who represents the southern end of the 52nd Precinct and the area that includes Bronx Lebanon, is meeting with Council Speaker Christine Quinn to discuss the city’s response to the violence.

“We are no longer going to accept these senseless acts of violence,” Cabrera said in a press release. “We are calling this meeting today because we are outraged and ready to take collective action against gun violence in our community. We are calling on the Bloomberg administration to take immediate action as our communities cannot afford to have continuous violence be a part of their daily lives. We will not stand by as our children and families fall victim to these horrific acts. Today is a step in the right direction, and it is just the beginning of what we hope is the start of a change in our community.

State Senator Gustavo Rivera called on government and community members to step up their efforts to combat the violence.

“We deserve better than to live in fear – to fear walking around in one’s neighborhood in the evening or to fear going to a place where you are supposed to be safe – the hospital,” Rivera said in a statement. “We, as a community, have to demand better and do better.”