Jazmine Barnes has been identified as the 7-year-old child who was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting in Houston, Texas.
What Happened?
According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, on the morning of Sunday, December 30, the still-unidentified gunman reportedly pulled up beside the family’s car — which contained Barnes, her three sisters, and her mother, LaPorsha Washington — in a red pickup truck and began open firing without provocation.
Police say they still don’t know why the gunman shot into the car driven by Jazmine’s mother. One of the bullets fired by the gunman struck Barnes in the head, killing her.
At the time of this writing, police were still working to identify the gunman. In a news conference on Wednesday, January 2, police said that they were hoping to release a sketch of the gunman by Thursday, January 3.
“We are hoping to get that done today if not today then hopefully the target date would be tomorrow. We’ll have another presser to release that formally,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez Gonzalez said Wednesday.
Prior to the release of the police sketch, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office already have released a photo of a the suspect’s red truck and a loose description of the individual.
via CNN:
Police are working through a steady stream of tips as they seek to track down the “violent, heinous killer” of Jazmine, Gonzalez said Wednesday. Gonzalez said none of the tips, including reports there were witnesses to the fatal shooting of Jazmine Barnes, are enough to break the case.
When asked by CNN at a news conference whether a tweet that said one witness followed the suspect in his vehicle, Gonzalez said: “I can say that we are receiving tips and we are going through those, but we still have to vet them.” He said authorities want to be cautious and prevent the arrest of someone who is innocent.
“We want to make sure that we get the right person as quickly as possible,” Gonzalez said. In an earlier interview, he told CNN, “We want to make sure we get this violent, heinous killer off our streets.”
Who Is Jazmine Barnes’ Killer?
At this time, the gunman who shot and killed the 7-year-old Barnes has not been identified.
A GoFundMe created in Barnes’ memory has since raised over $38,000 at the time of this writing.
