Stray Bullet Kills 9-Year-Old Sleeping In Her Bedroom, $10,000 Offered For Information

A nine-year-old girl was fatally shot by a stray bullet while she was sleeping in her house in Bridgeton, New Jersey, roughly 40 miles south of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday.

The victim, identified as Jennifer Trejo, was sound asleep around 12:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday when a shooting took place outside her home in Church Street, Bridgeton. One of the bullets pierced the rear wall of the victim’s bedroom and hit the girl, according to the investigators.

Trejo’s parents and relatives rushed her to a hospital nearby where she was pronounced dead.

Police do not have a suspect yet and are unsure if more than one persons were involved in the shooting. A number of bullets struck an array of vehicles near the area and several 9 mm shell casings found nearby.

“The family is grieving at this time and they wish privacy,” Deacon Ronaldo Santos of the Parish of the Holy Cross told CBS Philly. “They are asking the community for prayers.”

However, prayers are not all that the victim’s family is looking for, they also want justice for the death of their nine-year-old member. The police too have sought assistance from the public for any information that could point to the individual(s) responsible for Trejo’s death.

The Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office offered a reward of $10,000 for credible tips that could lead to the arrest of those responsible for the child's death.

“We need the public's help in general, but when an incident such as this happens to such a young and innocent victim we could really use the assistance in bringing those responsible to justice immediately," said Bridgeton Police Chief Mike Gaimari.

Gaimari also admitted that residents are typically reluctant to get involved in cases where there is “one criminal shooting another, one suspect shooting another” but Trejo’s case was not the same.

“In this case, it could have been anybody else’s child that was struck,” Gaimari said. "We hope this hits the heartstrings in the community that enough is enough.”

Bridgeton Mayor Albert Kelly was devastated by the news of Trejo’s death. “This is the worst day of my political life. I’ve been in office for eight years. To have something like this happen, it tears at your heart strings,” he said.

People getting shot by stray bullets are not a rarity in the neighborhood where Trejo lived. Jalana Walker, whose house is also on the Church Street, said she was struck by a stray bullet in the leg last summer.

“I’m scared, I’m really scared. They shot me last year and everything for no reason. They just keep doing this. Now a little kid lost her life for nothing,” said Walker.

Walker added that people in the neighborhood have had enough of the gang violence that pervaded the area. "It's the same stuff over and over, and it's sad," Walker said, New York Daily News reported. "It really does have to stop, because it hurts."

Tipsters with any information regarding Trejo’s death were told to contact Bridgeton police at 856-451-0033.