The family of a 6-year-old girl who was shot and killed while leaving a friend’s birthday party in January is speaking out together with the Miami-Dade State Attorney to ask for the public’s help in solving the tragedy.
Family members of Chassidy Saunders, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle and Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo held a Monday afternoon news conference to discuss the case.
“It’s hard, especially when we have our youngest son who doesn’t know anything, he misses his sister, his other half,” father Charles Saunders said. “Everyday he has to wake up, just look at his sister’s pictures, watches the videos, smile, laugh. He doesn’t see her anymore, it hurts.”
Saunders and two adults were shot back on Jan. 16 outside a home near the intersection of Northwest 6th Place and 55th Street.
The two adults survived but Saunders died from her injuries.
Grandmother Sheri Cullins said Chassidy was a “beautiful, spirited little girl.”
“Please, please come forward and let us know who did this to our baby Chassidy,” Cullins said. “It’s very hard to wake up every day knowing that Chassidy is not with us.”
No arrests have been made, but Acevedo said the shooting could be linked to gang violence.
“When someone takes a child’s life, the streets talk and it’s time for these streets to talk. We’re long overdue and I can tell you we’re not gonna give up on this case,” Acevedo said.
“We cannot allow callous young men to casually kill our children. We cannot allow them to steal our childrens’ lives and our childrens’ futures,” Fernandez Rundle said.
This story was published by NBC 6 Digital Team for NBC 6 Miami.