Tampa residents call for justice, end to gun violence after shooting death of 4-year-old girl
TAMPA, Fla. - One week after a 4-year-old girl was shot and killed in Tampa, community members are calling for an end to gun violence. Dozens of people took to the streets to call for justice as police search for a suspect.
"We have to stop it and we've got to do it now," Triumph Church Pastor Elvis Piggott said.
Sunday, several dozen people came together at the corner of N. 40th Street and Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa. It's just blocks from where little 4-year-old Sunni Bell was shot and killed last Sunday, when a bullet pierced the car she was riding in.
"Suni was an active girl. She was funny. She sang. She danced. She was just a happy girl," said Suni’s grandmother, Brenia Harrison, who was one of several who came together for a special march and rally to call for an end to the gun violence.
Suni Bell
The event was put on by the owner of a local boxing club as well as Pastor Piggott.
"I have done 17 funerals in the pandemic and none was from COVID," Piggot said. "Young men that are shot down and young men that are not over 30 years old. Our community is in trouble and I commend people. It's going to take all of us."
With signs in hand, demonstrators took to the streets and marched down North 40th Street. Alongside them were several Tampa police officers who came out to not only help with traffic, but to show their support.
"We've been non-stop since Sunday trying to find out exactly what happened and who's responsible for this senseless killing. The officers you see behind me, they are all non-stop 24 hours a day," said ," Tampa Police Department Assistant Chief Ruben Delgado. "Our detectives are still working and we're following down every lead said."
PREVIOUS: ‘It’s just too much’: Tampa police, families of crime victims, beg for shootings to stop
As of right now, police have released very few details about shooting, but have said they don't believe it was random. Detectives and the family are now asking anyone who knows anything to come forward.
"Whoever is out there who did it they need to come forward and turn themselves in and let us know and then we will be peaceful after all this is over and we get justice for my baby," Harrison said.
The Florida Attorney General's Office is now offering a $9,500 reward for any information that could lead to the shooter's arrest. If you know anything, you're asked to call crime stoppers.