A Hialeah mother was arrested Tuesday evening after her two daughters were hit by bullets while sitting in the backseat of her car.
Miami-Dade Police officials initially said the children, ages 6 and 8, were hurt in an apparent drive-by shooting, but Hialeah Police said the incident began with a theft at a supermarket.
Officials said a man had been involved in a theft at Rey Chavez Supermarket at 780 West 17th Street and had fled on foot to a car that was waiting in the parking lot. Police say the woman was the getaway driver.
A security guard chased the man out and fired shots at the car as they tried to drive, injuring the children in the backseat, according to police.
The mother brought the children to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where they were in stable condition, police said. Several police cars were outside the hospital Tuesday afternoon and a car believed to be the mother's was surrounded by yellow police tape.
The security guard is being sought for questioning, police said.
Miami-Dade Police Director Freddy Ramirez called the shooting "unacceptable."
The shooting comes just days after a 7-year-old girl, Alana Washington, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Brownsville that left a 2-year-old and two adults injured.
That same night in a separate shooting, police say a 14-year-old was shot at a house party.
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“These little bodies, these little people are our future,” said community activist Starex Smith.
Smith is planning a walk in Alana Washington’s neighborhood on Friday.
“Just shock and the disgusting reality that we live in where children can die,” Smith said. “I mean this is just unimaginable.”
Smith says the walk is to demand justice for Alana’s death but also to seek deeper change in communities which lack resources which he says can lead to crime.
“What we need to look at is those underlining issues, the social issues, economic issues, disastrous issues, the mental health issues,” Smith said.
