Mikayla Pickett Akron, 8 year old Ohio girl sho dead while attending backyard birthday party for teenager. No arrests made.
For my birthday wish, I want gun violence to cease. An 8-year-old girl has been shot and killed during a backyard birthday party for a teenager at an Akron, Ohio home.
Mikayla Pickett, was identified as the victim. Akron police said several shots were fired shortly before midnight Friday in the Sherbondy Hill neighborhood.
The 8 year old child was found wounded and taken to Akron Children’s Hospital, where she later died, police said.
Authorities said Pickett, was a student at Portage Path Community Learning Center, according to an Akron Public Schools spokesperson.
The Summit County medical examiner’s office will be conducting an autopsy.
‘I don’t know what the hell happened.’
Willie Walker, 62, told the Akron Beacon-Journal that he was hosting an outdoor birthday party for his 15-year-old grandson in his backyard when the shooting occurred.
Walker, who has lived at the home for 32 years, said he was inside when the gunfire started.
‘All hell broke out,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what the hell happened.’
Walker, who didn’t know the child, said three or four people apparently showed up at the property and started shooting at family members and friends who were at the party.
Police officers found multiple shell casings at the scene, he said.
‘I don’t know know how many shells they took,’ Walker said. ‘A lot of them.’
Another neighbor said that a couple of windows were shot out at the home of her son, who lives next door to her.
Mikayla’s death makes the 31st homicide that Akron police have seen this year. Six of those were deaths of children under the age of 19.
No arrests were immediately reported as of Sunday morning, but authorities are working to identify suspects. It remained unclear if the shooting was targeted or why gunmen sought to take the 8 year old girl’s life away.
