The heart of Laylah Peterson, a five-year-old girl who was fatally shot last week in her grandparents' home, will live on in another child. The Peterson family decided to donate the girl's heart so another child will have the chance to live.
Laylah was killed on Thursday at roughly 6 p.m. when a shooter fired a dozen bullets into her grandparents' home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Bullets struck the girl in the head. She was sitting on her grandfather's lap, watching TV when she died.
Laylah's family started a donation campaign on GiveForward.com to raise money for the burial services.
"She is going to be in our hearts, like her little baby heart is going to be in somebody else's. We know that as awful as this event has been, she is going to live on and save a life," Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said at a press conference on Saturday.
Flynn said that he would keep a photo of Laylah in his chest pocket, near pictures of his grandchildren, until the day the people who shot her go to jail.
Two individuals approached the house around 6 p.m. on Thursday. The shooters escaped the scene of the crime after firing 12 bullets into the house. There are currently no suspects in this case, and no motive is known or suspected. The police do not think that the assailant was targeting anyone inside the house. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is offering a $5,000 reward for any leads.
"There is no reason conceivable that I can think of that would explain this violent remorseless act. I have no idea what was in the minds of these actors. What I do know is that we're going to find them. We're going to arrest them, and they're going to go to jail," Flynn said.
Laylah's family remembers the girl as a child full of life and happiness. The community in Milwaukee built an impromptu memorial for the child on the steps of the house where she was killed. Laylah's funeral will be held on Wednesday.
Laylah's killing came just one day after the Milwaukee police put Sylvester AkeemLewis, the suspect in the shooting of a 10-year-old girl, behind bars on Wednesday. Laylah is the third child under the age of 13 this year that the Milwaukee police consider a homicide.
