Miami-Dade Police are investigating after a 4-year-old girl died after she was shot inside a car Saturday night.
The shooting happened just after 6 p.m. in the 12000 block of Northwest 20th Avenue, as the girl was sitting in a parked Mercedes Benz with several other small children, police said.
Somehow the girl, later identified as Rahquel Carr, was shot in her upper body. Carr was taken to Ryder Trauma Center where she later died, police said.
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Police said it's unclear if one of the other children in the car was responsible for the shooting. An adult was nearby when the shooting happened, police said.
Neighbor Priscilla Hardaway said she arrived home just before the shooting.
"The kids was running around the car, and the next thing you know, we turned around the little girl was on the ground," Hardaway said. "At that time we did not know that the child had been shot."
Hardaway said she didn't hear the gunshot.
"They were laughing one minute, and then the next minute everybody was crying and praying, it was so fast," she said.
Under Florida law, a firearm must be securely encased when in a vehicle. It is unclear where the firearm was located at the time of the shooting.
"We will be looking at who this firearm belonged to, were the firearm was in the vehicle at the time, along with who was present when the gun was fired," said Miami-Dade Police spokesman Det. Roy Rutland.
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No arrests have been made. Children were witnesses to the shooting and Miami-Dade Police will be forced to interview them, as well as many family members, Rutland said.
"There's a lot of speculation right now as to who had that firearm at the time, but we're not in the business of speculating, we're in the business of facts," Rutland said.
Distraught family members and friends arrived to the home Saturday night to give them support.
"Someone called my daughter, and told her she got shot," said Sonia Wheelers, who said she is like a grandmother to the child. "It's horrible, it's sad."
The shooting is still being investigated and the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department will be conducting an autopsy on the child, police said.
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Photo Credit: NBC6.com