SYRACUSE, N.Y. — An 11-month-old girl was killed and two other young girls were injured in a drive-by shooting in upstate New York, police said.
Dior Harris was just weeks away from her first birthday when she was shot multiple times shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday while in the backseat of the car in Syracuse, CNY Central reported.
“She was just a baby,” her mom, Desiree Seymore, told the outlet. “She was so strong. She didn’t even cry when it happened, but we lost her.”
Seymore and her cousin, Shakema Buckmon, had been driving with their daughters when someone opened fire from a car headed in the opposite direction, Syracuse.com reported.
“They just started, ‘pow, pow, pow,’ just started shooting at my car, and then just drove away,” Buckmon told CNY Central.
While the women were unharmed, their daughters were struck by the gunfire, police said.
Dior was rushed to Upstate University Hospital, where she died of her injuries, CNY Central reported.
“I tried to save her, I tried to get to the hospital as fast as I could, I tried, I tried but she had already passed before we could make it down the street,” Buckmon told the outlet.
Dior Harris (Family Handout)
Buckmon’s children, who are 3 and 8 years old, are expected to survive, police said, according to the New York Post.
No motive has been released for the shooting.
Chavez R. Ocasio, 23, was arrested Monday night in connection to Dior’s death, a law enforcement source told Syracuse.com.
It’s unclear what his role was in the shooting death.
He was booked on charges of murder, criminal possession of a firearm, tampering with physical evidence and violation of parole, the outlet reported.
A vigil for Dior was held Monday night. However, there have been no riots or protests reported, unlike the civil unrest occurring across the country after the death of Daunte Wright.
Wright was non-compliant and trying to flee from Brooklyn Center Police when an officer reportedly intended to tase him, but inadvertently shot him with her firearm on Sunday.
