A manhunt is underway in Houston, Texas, where a gunman shot and killed a 7-year-old girl during a possible road rage incident. ABC reports Jazmine Barnes was with her mother and 3 sisters in the family vehicle when she was shot around 7 a.m. Sunday morning.
LaPorsha Washington, 30, told police she was taking her four daughters, ages 6 to 16, to Joe V’s to pick up coffee on Sunday morning. They passed the Walmart off the 15400 block of Wallisville, when a man in a red pickup truck drove by and opened fire into the car.
Washington, who was shot in the arm during the incident, described the shooter as a white male in his 40s with a beard and wearing a red hoodie.
Washington said she didn’t realize Jazmine was hit until another daughter alerted her.
“She said, ‘Momma, Jazmine’s not moving. She’s not talking.’ I turned around and my 7-year-old was shot in the head.”
Washington pulled over and called 911. She was hospitalized with a gunshot wound and is expected to recover. Her 6-year-old daughter suffered a minor injury.
Jazmine was pronounced dead at the scene.
Activist Shaun King and civil rights attorney Lee Merritt offered a $35,000 cash reward to anyone with information leading to the arrest of the suspect.
The activists say a similar unprovoked incident happened at that same Walmart in 2017. According to ABC News, a man named A’Vonta Williams was shot multiple times by a white male driving a pickup truck. That shooting remains unsolved.
The activists say they believe the two shootings are related. But the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said the weapon ballistics, vehicle, and description of the suspect don’t match Sunday’s shooting incident.
Jazmine’s father, Christopher Cevilla, is pleading with the public to help catch the gunman.
“I just want anybody, whoever, out there that knows anything about the murder of my daughter, to just please step up as if it was your own,” he told reporters on Monday.
“Just put yourself in my shoes, in my family’s shoes.”
Sheriff Ed Gonzales said his department is leaving no stone unturned in their search for the child killer.
Gonzales said he believes the shooting was unprovoked, but he is not leaving out the possibility that the incident was an act of road rage.
“We’re going to leave every motive out there as a possibility,” he told reporters. “There was nothing to indicate that the family did anything wrong in any way. They were simply just driving along the service road when this happened to them.”
According to CrimeOnline, the suspect fled in a red, 4-door pickup truck with no license plate.
Police said they will use all resources to catch the suspect. A grainy image of a red pickup truck was released to the public on Tuesday.
“We’re going to use all resources available to bring this killer to justice,” Major Jesse Razo told reporters. “I urge you, whoever did this, you know who you are. Please turn yourself in now — because we will be looking for you, we will locate you, we will find you.”
