George Floyd's 4-year-old niece, Arianna, was shot while sleeping in her bed Saturday after a gunman opened fire on her home on New Year's Day, Houston police said.
The girl was shot in the torso and is in stable condition after an emergency surgery, police said. The bullet punctured her lung and liver and also broke three ribs, ABC 13 Houston said. Arianna was one of four adults and two kids who were in the Houston apartment around 3 a.m. when it was bombarded with bullets.
Her family identified her as a family member of Floyd, who died after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a Minneapolis officer in May 2020. Ex-Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for murdering Floyd after he held his knee on Floyd's neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds.
Arianna in Stable Condition
The child underwent surgery and is said to be doing great now and is recovering in stable condition at Texas Children's Hospital.
"My daughter jumped up and said she had been hit," Arianna's father Derrick Delane said. "I [saw] the blood, the bleeding, and I grabbed her."
"She's healing very fast. The last time I checked on her she was breathing on her own. She was doing really great," Derrick added.
Houston Police Investigating Delayed Response to Shooting
Family members said that EMS took hours to respond to the shooting, prompting Arianna's parents to drive her to the hospital, where doctors allegedly told the family she may not have made it
Houston Police Department Chief Troy Finner released a statement on Tuesday afternoon saying he was looking into the delayed response time into the incident:
"I am aware and have concerns regarding the delayed response time in this incident and have initiated an Internal Affairs investigation I ask for the city continue to pray for the child's full recovery and assist in providing information that would lead to the arrest of the suspect or suspects responsible."
Police say they do not have a description of the suspect or a motive at this point. Anyone with information in this case is urged to contact the HPD Major Assaults & Family Violence Division at 713-308-8800 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
