The mother of the 2-year-old who was killed Tuesday night in Little Rock was with her child when several bullets were fired into the vehicle they were riding in, authorities said.
Police were called to UAMS Medical Center at 8:34 p.m. after the car was driven to the hospital from the shooting scene near South Harrison Street and West Charles Bussey Avenue, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported. The child, a 2-year-old girl whose name has not been released, was pronounced dead at 9 p.m.
Shunta Johnson, 37, of Little Rock was driving the vehicle and told authorities she and her cousin, 27-year-old Rokiya Williams of Little Rock, were headed to an address on Van Buren Street when they heard several gunshots and saw an unknown vehicle drive by, according to a police report.
Williams, the mother of the 2-year-old, told police she was in the backseat holding her child when the shots rang out and she realized her daughter had been struck. She did not see the shooter, police said in a news release.
Investigators have a very limited description of the vehicle involved, and no suspects have been identified as of Wednesday morning, Hilgeman said.
Four other juveniles were also in the car at the time and were not injured, according to a police report.
Authorities found several shell casings at the scene, though the number of bullets fired and their caliber is not known at this time, Hilgeman said.
Rainy weather conditions have not had a major affect on the investigation so far, he added, as most of the DNA evidence is inside the vehicle, which was taken to a climate-controlled garage.
The motive for the shooting is not known at this time, and the investigation is ongoing, police said.