A Texas mother is now planning two funerals after her 6-year-old daughter was shot and killed just one week after her 14-year-old son’s murder, according to reports.
Ah’Laynah Modica-Ross, was shot inside a townhome off Fuqua Street and Fitzhugh Avenue in Dallas Wednesday evening.
Dallas police said Ah’Laynah was with other juveniles inside the home where there was an unsecured gun.
They have not yet said who shot the girl or what happened. Ah’Laynah was taken to a hospital where she died.
On Thursday, police brought in 19-year-old Damariya Sowels as a witness to the shooting.
“It’s a nightmare… we’re living a nightmare right now,” shares her grandfather, Michael Key. “And it’s hurting me real bad.”
Ah’Laynah’s mother was alerted about the shooting as she was at a local funeral home dressing her fourteen year old son, Ah’Bralen Rider. He was murdered at a friend’s apartment just prior to the new year.
“Overwhelmed”, breathed the grief-stunned mother, Brittney Ross, while grabbing a few things from the family’s townhome. “I… just… I don’t know.” Ross says Ah’Bralen’s funeral, initially planned for Saturday, will be postponed so they can now plan a double funeral.
Another teen was arrested and charged with manslaughter in Ah’Bralen’s death.
Family members tell us they’re angry that the kindergartener wasn’t safe in her own home.
“Actually, I didn’t know there was a gun in this house,” says Key, “and that’s what I’m so upset about right now. If there was a gun in this house, the gun should have been put in a safe location where she couldn’t have reached it or got ahold of it… Very upset about that, and I’m just hurt.”
Sowels was arrested and charged with tampering with physical evidence in the child’s death.
Ross, meanwhile, is defending the teen accused of bringing the weapons into her home, saying she has known for the teen for years and that he would never have harmed any of her children. Ross says Sowels needed the guns for “protection” after he and her surviving son received threats following the shooting death of her 14 year old.
According to the arrest warrant filed in this case, Sowels admitted to bringing 2 firearms to the townhome the day before the shooting and “placed the MAC 10 on top of the Playstation in the bedroom on the 3rd floor.” The warrant goes on to say that following the shooting, Sowels retrieved the gun involved in Ah’Laynah’s death “along with the other firearm, a Glock 40” and hid them in his backpack that he stashed in the garage. Police later seized both weapons.
“I don’t know how I’m gonna cope, this was my heart,” shares Key. “This baby was special.”
Tell us your thoughts...