Mother Shot To Death Inside Car, 2-Year-Old Boy Found Alive In Backseat

A 2-year-old boy who was caught up in gunfire survived, while his mother was shot multiple times at a corner gas station in New Orleans.

The 33-year-old woman, identified as Sully Simmons, was taken to a hospital but was pronounced dead. The child was found unharmed in the backseat of the mother's car.

The car was outside the Orleans Center Food Mart on Tuesday afternoon when a volley of bullets hit her car, reported WGNO. Police officers arrived to find the woman with multiple gunshot wounds.

Witnesses said the shooting suspect or suspects were traveling in a white Nissan Altima when they fired at Sully as she was leaving the service station.

One of the bystanders shot a video, which showed the woman slumped over the driver's seat with her son crying in the back, according to nola.com.

"Take the baby out of there," a man's voice was heard saying in the clip. "The lady, she got shot in her car, and the baby's in the car."

Sully' silver, four-door sedan reportedly had at least six bullet holes. The door to the driver's seat was struck four times and at least one window was shattered.

"The fact that the child lost a mother, just like that, probably over ... the stupidest thing," a person who was at the scene told the outlet. "These problems — it's not worth a life."

Another witness, Yousif Elhindi, told WWLTV that he saw the suspect shoot at the parked car.

"What I saw was a car drive by and shoot somebody in the vehicle and a little girl or boy I think it was sitting in the back seat and just someone getting killed outside of the store, very tragic, very. It's sad to see something like this happen around here," Elhindi said.

The victim's father, Lionel Simmons, said her daughter had her whole life ahead of her.

"We're not coping, we're just existing right now," the grieving father told the outlet "She was a fabulous young woman, a wonderful mother to her child and she had her whole life in front of her."

The unharmed 2-year-old boy was handed over to relatives following the incident. The New Orleans Police Department said they are trying to identify the suspect and a motive for the shooting.