Little girl fatally shot in head while sitting in car with dad: Police

The shooters remain at large

A 7-year-old Florida girl died Saturday night after a stray bullet struck her in the head while she sat in the car with her father, police said.

Jacksonville police are asking for the public’s help in finding two male suspects who they believe connected to the fatal shooting of Heydi Rivas Villanueva. WJXT reported that Villanueva was with her father and another sibling in a car parked in a strip mall on 103rd Street when she was shot.

Police don’t believe the 7-year-old or her father were the intended targets. They said that the family had just dropped off the girl’s mother at the mall and were waiting for her to return.

“We believe a combined number of about 13 to 15 shots were fired. All the shots were fired relatively quickly,” Sheriff Mike Williams said during a press conference, according to The Ledger.

Williams said it was approximately 70 feet away in a nearby parking lot where an argument between two groups escalated to gunfire. The altercation occurred after two men approached a dark-colored sedan and confronted the driver, he said.

Police suspect the two men fled in an early-to-mid-2000s Nissan Altima that has a bullet hole in the upper part of its windshield. They also believe a or black dark-colored Kia parked next to the sedan was also involved in the incident, the newspaper reported.

Williams announced that authorities are offering a $11,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest in this case. Authorities have released still images and surveillance footage of the men and cars they say are connected to the fatal shooting.

This is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with information regarding Sunday evening’s shooting is urged to call the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at 904-630-0500 or email JSOCrimeTips@jaxsheriff.org.

[Featured image: Heydi Villanueva/GoFundMe]