Washington Road Rage: Toddler Named ‘Malaja’ Shot In The Head, Dies From Her injuries


A 1-year-old toddler who was shot in the head during a road rage shooting incident last Thursday has died from her injuries, reports Yahoo! News. Identified only as “Malaja”, the 1-year-old was with her parents in their car when another car drew up to them, fired several shots at them, and drove away. While her parents were unhurt in the incident, little Malaja was struck by a bullet to the head. The toddler was strapped in the back seat of the car.

Following the incident, Malaja was taken to the Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she was declared brain dead. For the next two days, Malaja was kept on life support system to check if there are any chance of a recovery. However, on Saturday, officials from the hospital confirmed that they took the toddler off life support and that she was declared dead soon after.

The incident happened near an apartment complex in Kent, Washington — a town located 20 miles south of Seattle. Police have made no arrests in connection with the shooting so far.

In an earlier report on the Inqusitr, we reported that the shooting took place after an argument broke out between the father of little Malaja and the other individual who was driving next to them. Initial reports said that the argument broke out after both cars attempted to make a turn at the same time at an intersection leading to one car blocking the other. Following the argument, the angry driver of the black sedan, who remains unidentified, took out his gun and fired several shots at the car in which Malaja was traveling. According to eyewitnesses, at least eight shots were fired at Malaja’s car, with one of them hitting Malaja in the head.

“There was some sort of exchange, and the next thing we know is the individuals in the black vehicle exchanged gunfire (at the) silver vehicle,” police spokeswoman for Seattle Police Department said at the scene.

A witness named Linda Johnston also witnessed the incident and told authorities what she saw.

“I was sitting in my bedroom here and heard the shots. ‘Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam’. The baby was on the ground, and other people were doing CPR on the baby, and the mother was in hysterics and the dad was in hysterics, too.”

[Image via Gannet]

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