Family Donates Heart Of 5-Year-Old Girl Killed In Random Shooting: Police Vow Justice

Police in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, have reported that the family of a 5-year-old girl killed in a shooting last week has donated her heart to another child.

According to NY Daily News, Laylah Petersen was sitting in her grandfather’s lap watching television Thursday evening just before 6:30 pm when close to a dozen bullets ripped through his Milwaukee home. One of the bullets hit the girl in the head, killing her.

Neighbors said that Laylah and another girl often stayed at the home with their grandparents. After the shooting, their grandfather rushed to a neighbor’s home covered in blood, seeking medical help.

“For something like this to happen — it’s real tragic,” a neighbor told local television station FOX6 News.

Police have not discovered a motive for the “heinous crime” and believe that the shooting was a random act. They believe the family was not specifically targeted. Police Captain Aaron Rapp explained what they knew about the case.

In this case, at this point, we believe this bullet read, ‘to whom it may concern,’ and that concerns all of us, and should concern the entire community.

“We’re asking the community, we’re asking everybody to help us out with this, get this solved. It’s a small consolation that we can provide for her and for her family, her friends.”

“There is no reason conceivable that I can think of that would explain this violent remorseless act,” Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn told reporters. “I have no idea what was in the minds of these actors. What I do know is that we’re going to find them. We’re going to arrest them, and they’re going to go to jail.”

“She’s going to be in our hearts, like her little baby heart is going to be in somebody else’s,” Flynn said during a news conference announcing the family’s decision to donate Laylah’s heart. “She will always be remembered – not just by her family, but by that family that she has given her little heart to.”

Flynn said his department would not rest until the shooters were brought to justice, vowing to keep a photo of Laylah next to a picture of his grandchildren in his breast pocket, close to his heart until her killers are caught.

“I’m going to do it until those guys go to jail,” he promised with tears in his eyes.

The family is also asking the public to help police find Laylah’s killer, urging anyone who has information on the shooters to come forward, reports the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel. A reward of up to $5,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. A growing pile of stuffed animals and flowers have appeared in front of the family’s home since the shooting, and a vigil for the girl was planned for Sunday night.

“I cannot rest until they find who did this to our baby,” said the girl’s aunt, Jocelyn Petersen. “This is more than just a 5-year-old. She was somebody’s granddaughter, she was a niece, she was like an angel, and now she’s a real life angel, but it was too soon…. We need justice for Laylah.”

Little Laylah’s death is just the latest in a series of senseless shootings across the country, such as this 11-year-old Washington girl who the Inquisitr recently reported was killed by a family member. If there is one bright side to the story of Laylah’s untimely murder is that her heart will help another child live, but that does very little to console the hearts of Laylah’s family during this time.