Girl, 7, killed in drive-by, infant injured, Miami’s latest child victims of gunfire
On Monday afternoon, doctors removed life support from Alana Washington, a 7-year-old who was shot along with a 1-year-old relative and two others in a brazen Saturday evening drive-by shooting that again rocked a neighborhood far too familiar with gunfire.
Alana — another in a too-lengthy list of South Florida children killed in drive-bys or gun battles — was remembered just hours later in a street-corner gathering in the Brownsville neighborhood where the shooting happened.
Surrounded by family and friends and a who’s who of Miami-Dade County leaders, Alana’s mother Shanlavie “Niecey” Drayton, held hands with others in prayer before addressing the death of her daughter. Drayton, who is also the 1-year-old’s grandmother, was surrounded by other children, all wearing masks — a reminder of another ongoing public health threat.
“Alana was only 7 years old, getting out of a car. My grandson was only one year old and he is still holding on,” said Drayton. “His mom is fighting right now... I’m just asking if you guys see something, know something, say something, but mostly pray. Prayer, counseling because we all know prayer changes things.”
Alana, who attended a Northwest Miami-Dade charter school called KIPP Miami, was described by relatives as a sweet and strong-willed child. Her aunt Charmaine Mike, said her niece liked to ride big bikes.
“She was a real good kid, a sweetheart,” said Mike.
Alana’s death Monday came on what would have been the 11th birthday of King Carter — another Northwest Miami-Dade child whose life was snuffed out at the age of 6 as he was on his way to buy candy at the corner store. King was caught in a crossfire of bullets from teens fighting in his apartment parking lot. The shooting galvanized a community as hundreds attended the child’s funeral and King’s father became a staunch anti-gun-violence advocate.
On Monday, instead of spending the afternoon with his son, Santonio Carter spent the day at his child’s grave site, planting flowers and laying balloons. The news about Alana hit him hard.
“You try your best to keep your sanity. But burying a child can’t be described. They don’t make medicine for a broken heart,” Carter said. “It makes me want to go crazy. It’s just ridiculous that there’s a club parents are forced to join, without signing up.”
The gathering at the corner of Northwest 51st Street and 29th Avenue attracted a throng of Miami-Dade County leaders, who expressed a mixture of sorrow and anger at killers who would open fire indiscriminately on a family .
“I am beyond heartbroken. I am incensed,” said Miami-Dade Commissioner Audrey Edmonson, whose district includes the neighborhood where she stood. “No family should have to feel this agony. Especially not at the hands of cowards that drive by a home and riddle it with bullets without caring where a bullet is fired or whom it may hit, harm or kill.”
Edmonson led an effort that increased the reward leading to an arrest and conviction of the shooter from $5,000 on Saturday to $42,500.
The reward was again increased to $55,000 on Wednesday, Miami-Dade police said.
By Monday afternoon, police still had not revealed any potential motive for the shooting or whether they had identified suspects. A law enforcement source said the shooting did not appear to be random and the shooter seemed to be “targeting” a person in the group of people who were hanging around outside the home at about 8 p.m. Saturday. One law enforcement source said detectives were looking into whether the shooting was retaliatory for a recent shooting.
Police and witnesses said just after a car parked at the curb in front of the home, another car drove by and someone inside the vehicle opened fire. At least a dozen rounds were fired. A man at the home then ran inside and retrieved a weapon and returned fire. It wasn’t clear if he struck a target.
Also injured in the shooting was a 1-year-old infant named Alto, who is Drayton’s grandchild. He was shot in the thigh and is expected to recover. Also expected to recover from gunshot wounds are Cynthia Bloom, 23, and Demetriel Rice, 24.
Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo “Freddie” Ramirez said as a father and the police director, he was appalled that yet another child’s life was struck down by gunfire.
“I want the family to know that the community, my police officers, the pastor, everyone is here standing united to bring justice to this family,” said the police director. But, “the police cannot do this alone. We need you to come forward. Please, if you know anything, please share that information. Justice for this young girl, she had her life ahead of her, to be killed like this is terrible, unacceptable.”
And Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said Alana was “robbed” of her future.
“She will never be able to wear her fifth grade graduation gown. She will never celebrate the passage from eighth grade into ninth grade to high school. She will never walk across the graduation stage,” said Carvalho. “She will never realize her God-given promise of a fulfilled life because someone, laden with cowardice, did the unspeakable.”
Public outcries after a child is shot and killed are all too common. Alana was at least the 20th child under the age of 12 to lose a life to gunfire in Miami-Dade since 2006. That year an errant assault rifle round killed 9-year-old Sherdavia Jenkins while she was playing outside her Liberty City home. A park nearby was named in her honor.
In 2015, 10-year-old Marlon Eason was shot and killed by an errant bullet on the walkway in front of his Overtown home as he was retrieving a basketball. And a year later, 6-year-old King lost his life.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, also spoke Monday and urged anyone with information to come forward. She called the incident yet “another senseless shooting.”
And Tangela Sears, who lost a son to gun violence several years ago and who created the community’s chapter of Mothers of Murdered Children, said too many times she’s had to stand on a street corner demanding justice after a senseless killing.
“We cannot continue to allow people, cowards, to continue to roam our streets and shoot up neighborhoods and shoot our little babies, parents, aunts, uncles, because it don’t just hurt the families,” said Sears. “It hurts the neighborhoods and it hurts the communities.”
This story was originally published July 27, 2020 at 7:15 PM.
