According to local media, a seven-year-old girl from Georgia died days after being hit by a stray bullet while she was shopping with her family. Kennedy Maxie died Saturday night at a local hospital where she was being treated, the office of the Fulton County Medical Examiner told CBS station WGCL.
The girl lived in Cobb County and attended a local elementary school, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Our hearts are broken by the senseless Kennedy assassination,” said Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in a statement released to the station. “While the Atlanta Police Department has important clues in the arrest of those responsible, it does not alleviate the pain felt when a beautiful, vibrant, and loving child is tragically taken from her family.”
Atlanta Police via WGCL
According to Atlanta police, the girl was shot in the head while driving a car with her mother and aunt on Dec. 21 after leaving a popular Atlanta mall. The child’s aunt told police she heard gunshots, and when she realized that the child had been hit by gunfire, she drove to a hospital.
Investigators believe the shot may have been fired during a dispute between several men in a Saks Fifth Avenue parking lot, Atlanta Police Lieutenant Pete Malecky said last week. Malecky said police do not believe the child, car or any of her relatives were the intended target of the gunfire. It’s not clear whether one or more people opened fire during the dispute, Malecky said. No one else was hurt.
Malecky said the investigators are searching surveillance video in an attempt to identify a suspect or suspects.
“We at APD are sick every time we hear that someone else has been shot, seriously injured or killed by gun violence,” the department said in a statement. “It is especially troubling when small children fall victim to these acts.”
Child deaths come as murders in the Atlanta area and across the country are on the rise during the coronavirus pandemic. The murder spelled 155 murders in the city this year, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, making 2020 the deadliest year in the city since 1998. in Atlanta is up more than 50% since last year when police investigated 99.
A survey of homicide data from 21 American cities, including Atlanta up to the end of October, found that there were 610 more murders in the summer and fall of 2020 than in the same period in 2019. The number of murders increased by 42% during the summer and 34%. in the fall compared to the summer and fall of 2019, the study found.
“We are seeing a unique increase in gun violence here on the subway and nationally, and it is very concerning,” said Rodney Bryant, Atlanta interim police chief.
A $ 15,000 reward is offered for information leading to an arrest on the death of the child.