According to police and reports, a 7-year-old boy riding in his mother’s car along with his younger siblings was shot and killed on Wednesday night in a possible road rage incident.
The youth, identified as Kakileen Grellen Harris, was in the back seat just after 11 o’clock when a shot from another vehicle hit his neck, Hickory police said at a press conference on Thursday.
His mother pulled over and dialed 911. The boy was taken to Catawba Valley Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
Police said the mother inadvertently cut the second vehicle and called it a road rage incident.
“We are exploring all options at the moment,” said Hickory Police Capt. Jeff Young. “The initial belief is that it is a random act of violence. These people did not know each other. “
Police-issued granny traffic camera footage shows the mother cutting a dark-colored SUV, which police said then went around the Acura.
“At the time, she overhears someone screaming, what she describes as a female voice,” Young said. “She believes that a woman (driver) got around and fired a bullet from the passenger window, which went into the passenger area behind her vehicle, where the children were traveling.”
Kakilane’s mother and her two sisters – ages 1 and 6 – were not injured.
“It’s tough,” said Hickory Police Chief Thurman Whisnant, The Hickory Daily Record reported. “It was a senseless act of violence. The men and women of the Hickory Police Department will work tirelessly to provide justice to the cowards who do justice. “
According to Charlotte observerThe boy’s death shot for the third time in North Carolina in just two days.
In two other instances – Tuesday in Apex and Wednesday in Shelby – young victims under 10 survived, but were seriously injured, the Observer said.
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