*A 7-year-old girl who was riding in a car with her mother and 3 sisters was killed in Texas over the weekend when a white male gunman in a pickup truck pulled up alongside them and opened fire.
Now the father of Jazmine Barnes is asking the public for help finding the gunman and a $30,000 reward is being offered for information leading to his apprehension, ajc.com reports.
“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,” Jazmine’s father, Christopher Cevilla, said at a news conference Monday, according to People.
“Just put yourself in my shoes — in my family’s shoes,” he said.
Jazmine and her three siblings were with their mother, LaPorsha Washington, 30, at the time of the shooting. Two teens and a 6-year-old were also in the car.
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Our hearts go out to Jazmine’s grieving classmates and teachers at Monahan Elementary in Sheldon ISD. We won’t rest until this precious child’s killer is brought to justice. pic.twitter.com/cEWcwdR9Uy
— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) January 1, 2019
Washington was shot once in the arm while trying to shield one of her children, KTRK reported. The other occupants were not seriously injured.
Washington spoke to KTRK from her hospital bed about the shooting.
“As I turned around and looked back at the street, I heard shots start firing and they came through my window, broke my glass, and hit me in my arm,” she said. “They sped off in front of us and the truck slowed down and continued to fire as he was in front of us. It was not fair. It was not fair. He intentionally killed my child for no reason. He didn’t even know her, he didn’t know who she was.
“He took away an innocent child. She did not deserve this. She did not deserve this at all,” she said.
“A total of 5 occupants in the car witnessed this innocent child, their loved one, shot and killed before their eyes. So senseless,” Harris County Shefiff Ed Gonzalez said on Twitter on Sunday. “It’s never easy, and extra hard during the holiday season.”
“We won’t rest until this precious child’s killer is brought to justice,” he said on Monday.
The suspect has been described as a white man in his 40s with a beard and wearing a red hooded sweatshirt. The make and the model of the red four-door truck he was driving is unclear.
“We’re not going to rule anything out,” Gonzalez said at a news conference. “At this point, our focus is identifying who the shooter is and locating him and after that we can determine motive.”
“I need everyone to pull together to get justice for my child,” Washington said.
Cevilla set up a GoFundMe page to help with family expenses. It has surpassed its $6,500 goal.
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the Harris County Sheriff’s Office at 713-274-9100 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477. Tips can also be submitted anonymously online at Crime-Stoppers.org.
Meanwhile, journalist Shaun King and civil rights attorney Lee Merritt are offering a $35,000 reward to find Jazmine Barnes’ killer.
