A stray bullet killed a 3-year-old girl Friday in Baltimore, police said.
McKenzie Elliott was fatally shot by the stray bullet around 4 in the afternoon in Waverly, an area about a mile east of the Johns Hopkins University campus.
"We do not have a motive right now," said Detective Jeremy Silbert, a Baltimore police spokesman, reports The Washington Post. "(Its) does not appear that the child was targeted," he added.
Elliott was on the porch of a house with a 21-year-old woman who suffered minor injuries on her hand and chin. The authorities said that a 22-year-old man was also hit by the bullet and arrived at the hospital for treatment. The investigators have put him on the "person of interest" list, reports WBAL Radio.
A resident of the neighbourhood heard the shot and thought it might be firecrackers. According to the neighbours, the area is generally quiet with a mix of "all kinds of people" and "nobody fussing or fighting." Nobody "expected anything like this," a neighbour said, according to the Post. "It's a tragedy."
In a similar incident in Chicago, an 11-year-old girl was fatally shot at a pajama party with her friends. The reason for the shooting is not known. Shamiya Adams was taken to a Mount Sinai Hospital where she was pronounced dead. "I'm angry because she never did anything to anybody," said 11-year-old Nashaunti Baker, a friend of Adams. "She didn't deserve it."
In Idaho, a 5-year-old girl was killed after her friend of the same age shot her during a play date at home.
According to a report published in Pediatrics, at least 7,000 children are either hospitalised or killed because of gun violence every year. Moreover, around 3,000 children die due to gun injuries before making it to hospital.
