Man Opens Fire on Car, Kills 7-Year-Old Girl

'So senseless,' police say after Houston murder
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 31, 2018 4:06 AM CST
Man Opens Fire on Car, Kills 7-Year-Old Girl
Police say they are using all available resources to find the killer.   (AP Photo/Billy Smith - Houston Chronicle)

Police in Houston are hunting a suspect who fired into a vehicle as it left a Walmart parking lot early Sunday, killing a 7-year-old girl in front of her mother and three siblings. Police say Jazmine Barnes was shot when the suspect pulled up next to the vehicle around 7am and opened fire for no apparent reason, ABC reports. The girl's mother, 30-year-old LaPorsha Washington, was shot in the arm. Her 6-year-old daughter was wounded by glass fragments, while two teenage siblings are "shaken" and "devastated" but physically unharmed, authorities say. Police say they are looking for an armed and dangerous suspect, described as a bearded white man in his 40s who was wearing a red hoodie.

Police say the suspect was driving a red pickup truck with no plates. They say the mother called 911 after driving away from the scene, but Jazmine died before paramedics could get her to a hospital. "Please keep this family in your prayers," tweeted Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. "A total of 5 occupants in the car witnessed this innocent child, their loved one, shot and killed before their eyes. So senseless. It's never easy, and extra hard during the holiday season." Major Jesse Razo of the sheriff's office urged the suspect to surrender, the Houston Chronicle reports. "Please turn yourself in now," he said. "Because we will be looking for you, we will locate you, we will find you." (More Houston stories.)

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