Police are investigating two separate deadly shootings involving two children. In the latest incident in Belleville, a 5-year-old girl was shot and killed.
The coroner has identified that little girl as Dariyah Lathan. The 5-year-old was pronounced dead just after 7:15 p.m. at Memorial Hospital.
Officers said that the shooting happened at a home on South 88th Street. They were called out there just after 6:30 p.m. The 5-year-old girl was shot in the face.
Police saw a car from the home speeding down West Main Street. They eventually determined the vehicle was from the home where the shooting happened, and they rushed the girl to the hospital, where she died from her injuries – despite what authorities are calling “extensive life-saving efforts.”
The Belleville Police Department is collaborating with the Child Death Investigation Task Force, the St. Clair County Coroner’s Office, and the St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office to investigate the case.
Tamara Caldwell lives down the street from where this tragedy happened.
“I was inside; my daughter came in and said Mom did, Caldwell explained. “I had just come from the store actually, and she said, ‘did you see all the police cars up the street?’ And I said, no. So I came outside, like I said – looked out, looked down here – and I said, ‘Oh, they’re putting yellow crime scene tape up.’ So something had to happen.’”
“I heard screams, and I walked outside. I looked and didn’t see anybody, so I went back in, but I didn’t know what happened.”
Source : Fox 2 Now
