A seven-year-old Georgia girl died days after being hit by a stray bullet during a Christmas shopping trip with her family, according to local media reports. Kennedy Maxie died Saturday night at a local hospital where she was being treated, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office told CBS’s WGCL station.
The girl lived in Cobb County and attended a local elementary school, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Our hearts are broken for the senseless assassination of Kennedy,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in a statement posted on the station. “While the Atlanta Police Department has significant clues in apprehending those responsible, it does not erase the pain felt when a beautiful, vibrant and loving child is tragically removed from his family.”
Atlanta Police via WGCL
According to the Atlanta Police Department, the girl was shot in the head while riding in a car with her mother and aunt on December 21, after leaving a popular Atlanta shopping center. The child’s aunt told police she heard gunshots and, when she realized that the child had been hit by a shootout, continued driving to the hospital.
Investigators believe the shot may have been fired during a dispute between several men in the parking lot of Saks Fifth Avenue, said Lt. Pete Malecky of the Atlanta police last week. Malecky said the police did not believe that the child, the car or any of their relatives were the target of the shooting. It is not clear whether one or more people opened fire during the dispute, Malecky said. No one else was hurt.
Malecky said investigators were combing surveillance videos in an attempt to identify one or more suspects.
“We at APD are disgusted every time we hear that another person has been shot, seriously injured or killed by a firearm,” the department said in a statement. “It is especially worrying when young children are victims of these acts.”
The child’s death occurs in the form of homicides in the Atlanta area and across the country, which increase dramatically during the coronavirus pandemic. The killing marked 155 murders in the city this year, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, making 2020 the deadliest year in the city since at least 1998. With days left until the end of the year, the number of 2,020 homicides in Atlanta is more than 50% since last year, when the police investigated 99.
A study of homicide data from 21 U.S. cities, including Atlanta, by the end of October, found that there were 610 more homicides in the summer and fall of 2020 than during the same period in 2019. Homicide rates increased by 42% during the summer and 34% in the fall compared to the summer and fall of 2019, the study concluded.
“We are seeing a unique increase in armed violence here across the Metro and nationally, and it is very worrying,” said Atlanta interim police chief Rodney Bryant.
A $ 15,000 reward is being offered for information leading to arrest for the child’s death.