justice for jazmine barnes

On December 30th, one Houston, Texas-area family should have been getting ready to celebrate the new year. Instead, they are mourning an unthinkable tragedy.

LaPorsha Washington was going out to get coffee with her four daughters. As they passed a local Walmart, a white male with a beard pulled up to their car and fired, in what police called a “random and senseless” act of violence, killing 7 year-old Jazmine Barnes and injuring Washington.

Jazmine’s mother said the attack happened for no reason: “As I turned around and looked back at the street, I heard shots start firing and they came through my window, broke my glass, and hit me in my arm. They sped off in front of us and the truck slowed down and continued to fire as he was in front of us. It was not fair. It was not fair. He intentionally killed my child for no reason. He didn’t even know her, he didn’t know who she was.”

She says the man continued to shoot as he drove off: “They sped off in front of us and the truck slowed down and continued to fire as he was in front of us.”

After the attack, Jazmine’s sister found her lifeless body. “She said: ‘Momma, Jazmine’s not moving. She’s not talking,” her mother said.

According to the New York Times, the motives are unclear but police are not ruling out the possibility that the attack was racially motivated. “We’re going to leave every motive out there as a possibility. There was nothing to indicate that the family did anything wrong in any way. They were simply just driving along the service road when this happened to them.”

The suspect is described as, “a white man in his 40s with a beard, wearing a red, hooded sweatshirt and driving a red pickup truck”; he remains at large. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez of Harris County is urging anyone with information to come forward.

The family has set up a Go Fund Me to help with expenses. Journalist Shaun King and lawyer Lee Merritt have offered a $35,000 cash reward for any information about the suspect.