A 12-year-old North Carolina girl was killed when someone in an SUV unleashed a barrage of gunfire, striking her as she sat at an outdoor picnic table with other children, police said.
The child, whose name was not immediately released, was shot around 8 p.m. on in the Charlotte suburb of Monroe, a town of about 36,000 people, according to police.
No one has been arrested as of Sunday afternoon, and police are working to identify the killer. Police said they are searching for a black Ford Freestyle SUV that witnesses said the shots came from.
“Our hearts and prayers go out to the family of the victim, and we need the community to help identify and hold the shooter accountable for what they have done,” Monroe Police Chief Bryan Gilliard said in a statement.investigators are also asking residents of Icemorlee Street in Monroe for any surveillance video that may have captured the shooting.
“Someone knows who did this. This was an innocent child, and we need people to be brave and step up so we can catch those responsible for this senseless act of violence,” Gilliard said.
Police said the child was sitting with friends on a picnic table when the SUV drove by and someone inside opened fire without warning.
Multiple shell casings littered the scene, but no other victims were shot, police said.
The gravely wounded girl was taken to Atrium Health Union hospital in Monroe, where she was pronounced dead, according to police.
The girl was the second child killed in a drive-by shooting in a suburb of Charlotte in less than a month.
8-yold Ah’Miyahh Howell was shot to death in Statesville, North Carolina, about 40 miles north of Charlotte, when someone in a Mercedes drove by and opened fire, police said. A 7-year-old boy with Ah’Miyahh at the time was also injured in the shooting.
As Statesville police responded to the fatal shooting, they heard gunshots ring out nearby from a second drive-by shooting that left a 10-year-old boy wounded, officials said.
At least six people, ranging in age from 17 to 19, have been arrested and charged with murder in Ah’Miyahh’s death, according to police.
