A Texas 6-year-old girl was fatally shot Wednesday while her mother was away making funeral arrangements for her teenage son who was also killed by gun violence.
Dallas Police said officers responded to a shooting at an Old East Dallas apartment and found the child with a gunshot wound. The 6-year-old was taken to Children's Medical Center in Dallas where she later died.
The girl was identified Thursday by the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office as Aylayna Ross.
According to police, the girl was inside the home with two adults, two juveniles, and an unsecured firearm when she was shot. Police said Thursday morning they were still working to determine exactly how it happened.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
A woman who said she was the child's aunt told police that the girl's mother was at a funeral home at the time of the shooting making arrangements to bury her 14-year-old son, Ah'bralen Rider. According to Dallas Police, Rider died after he was found shot near Harry Hines and Oak Lawn on Dec. 29.
Dallas Police have not released any other information about Wednesday's shooting. Police have also not announced any arrests with charges related to the girl's death, but did say 19-year-old Damariya Sowels was arrested and charged with tampering with evidence and on unrelated outstanding warrants.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by NBC Dallas, Sowels admitted to police that he brought two guns into the home, including a Glock 40 and a MAC 10 that he placed on top of a PlayStation in a third-floor bedroom. Sowels said after the shooting he put the guns in a backback and hid it in the garage before police arrived, "intenting to impair its availability as evidence in the investigation of the shooting."
U.S. & World
The backpack and guns were later found by crime scene investigators searching the home.
Sowels is being held on bonds totaling $100,000 and was wanted for evading arrest and unlawful carrying of a weapon, according to court records. It's not clear if Sowels has obtained an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
Markia Boyd, who lives two doors down from the victim, told NBC Dallas the child was a "sweet little girl" who had played with her own children.
"That hurts," Boyd said after learning the girl had died of her injury. "God, there's a plan behind all this. I'm trying to not cry … I'm shaking right now."
The investigation into Wednesday's shooting is ongoing.
