Her parents had pulled up to a shop to buy groceries in the Bronx's Bedford Park neighbourhood when the incident happened on Wednesday evening.

CCTV shows two men running down the street in an apparent chase, before one pulls out a gun and fires two shots.

The baby was hit in the cheek as she waited with her mother in the back of the car. Her father was inside the store at the time.

A pink baby jacket was laying in the street behind police tape after the shooting, NBC New York reported, with witnesses saying the mother ripped it off in a panic as she called 911.

"The officers found a mother holding her 11-month-old baby girl, who suffered a gunshot wound to her left cheek," said NYPD deputy chief Timothy McCormack.

The girl was intubated at St Barnabas Hospital before being moved to another facility, where she is said to be critical but stable.

A bullet shell casing was recovered from the scene, but police are still searching for the men from the CCTV and no arrests have been made.

New York's new mayor, Eric Adams, went to the scene in a bid to reassure residents after a number of violent incidents in the city in recent weeks, including the shooting of a police officer close by the day before.

"It doesn't matter to me if it's a police officer shot or if it's a baby shot. I'm going to stay in these streets until this city is safe," Mr Adams said.