Nine-month-old shot dead in stroller on California street
Mother runs inside fast food restaurant after child struck in drive-by shooting
A nine-month-old child has been shot dead while being walked in a stroller by his mother down a street in Merced, California.
Local police have said that the infant died when a passenger in a passing vehicle drove by and opened fire, according to WHNS.
Merced is located east of San Jose in central California.
Police responded to a call reporting the shooting on 9 November at about 12.36pm.
Emergency personnel located the mother and child inside a McDonald’s. After suffering a gunshot wound, the child was pronounced dead on the scene.
Merced Police Lt Joseph Perez told the Fresno Bee that “officers responded to the McDonad’s nearby because that’s where the mother ran with the child”.
It was reported that three shots were fired from the passing vehicle.
In a post on Facebook, the Merced Police Department said that responding officers found that “the infant was suffering from a fatal gunshot wound and unfortunately pronounced deceased at the scene”.
“Grigsby was being pushed in a stroller by his mother who was walking down the street with her boyfriend. A vehicle drove by and one of the occupants opened fire, striking Grigsby,” police said. “Detectives are still conducting a thorough canvass of the area for witnesses and video surveillance. This investigation remains ongoing, and no suspects have been identified at this time.”
No suspects in the shooting have been identified so far.
Lt Perez told the Fresno Bee that “this happened at a busy time of day” and that “if there’s anybody out there that saw something that the police didn’t speak to, if they can reach out to the police”.
“Merced Police are asking anyone with any information regarding this incident to contact Sergeant Kalvin Haygood at 209-385-6998 or by email at haygoodk@cityofmerced.org or Detective Steven Odom at 209-388-7814 or by email at odoms@cityofmerced.org,” police wrote on Facebook.