A 2-year-old Texas girl was killed and a woman was critically injured in a shooting near Fair Park in Dallas on Sunday night, police said.
The shooting happened around 9:30 p.m. in the 4700 block of Hay Street, just north of Fair Park off Haskell Avenue. When police arrived to the scene, they learned that the woman and a toddler were shot during a drive-by.
Both victims were taken to a hospital, where the toddler was pronounced dead.
Family identified the toddler as Zyah Lacy.
“My grandbaby ain’t your target. So why does she have to die? Like, why would you shoot a 2-year-old?” said Zyah’s maternal step-grandmother Deborah Harper Smith.
She and Zyah’s other two grandmothers gathered Monday at their church New Millennium Bible Fellowship to pray for peace. They’re now asking the public for help in bringing the little girl’s killer to justice.
“We’re pleading on today. If it was your 2-year-old granddaughter’s daughter, niece, or cousin. How would you feel?” said Tomeka Staten, Zyah’s paternal grandmother.
Zyah was with her mother and Harper-Smith Sunday night at balloon release for a relative also killed in a drive-by shooting.
“We were outside just taking pictures celebrating. We heard gunshots,” Harper-Smith said. “Everybody started to run. I grabbed my grandbaby.”
The, Harper-Smith said she felt blood.
“I went to holding my baby shot. We ran to the car. My son took us to the hospital,” said Harper-Smith.
But little Zyah didn’t make it.
“My baby was only 2 years old. She haven’t even lived… a full life yet,” Harper-Smith said. “This was a very smart 2-year-old like my baby knew. ABC’s she knew how to count. She knew her name.”
Police say the suspects shot multiple rounds at the crowd of people at that party hitting the toddler and another woman – who’s not related to the child. She’s expected to live.
“It was not a random shooting, however, the woman and the child were not the intended targets,” said Dallas Police spokeswoman Kristin Lowman.
It’s still unclear who the intended targets were Sunday. While police search for suspects, Zyah’s grandmas just want somebody to come forward.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police detective Guy Curtis by calling 214-671-3633 or emailing guy.curtis@dallaspolice.gov.
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