NE'RIAH SERENITY MILLER - 1 yo (8/14) - Louisville, KY

1-year-old girl killed in west Louisville shooting


 UPDATED 9:15 AM EDT Aug 28, 2014



Louisville Metro Police are investigating after a baby was shot and killed.

Police originally thought it was a drive-by shooting, but now say the person or persons responsible were on foot.

The shooting happened around 6 p.m. Wednesday in the 100 block of South 37th Street.

The baby and her mother were shot outside a home. The baby was rushed to Kosair Children's Hospital, where she died a short time later. Her mother is recovering at University of Louisville Hospital.

"This don't make no sense. This really doesn't make any sense," said Sherrie Miller, a relative of the victims.

Miller said her granddaughter and great-granddaughter were the ones who were shot.

"It was like six guys, they said six guys come around this corner. One of them had a white T-shirt on and then there was some more of them. And said they came up there, and the case shells is up on my daughter's porch, (and they started) shooting," said Miller.

"Well I knew it wasn't firecrackers. It sounded like firecrackers, but it was gunshots," said neighbor Eva Goodrich.

Goodrich lives a half block from where the shooting took place. She was in her basement when she heard the gunfire.

"I could really hear them because they were right there at my basement window," said Goodrich.

Police are still trying to piece together exactly what happened and who's responsible.

"Obviously this appears to be some sort of drive-by situation, but again, it's too early to tell whether these individuals were the target of this shooting," said LMPD spokesman Dwight Mitchell.

Miller said violence is plaguing this part of Louisville.

"They need to stop letting these hoodlums out, these crack-head, dope-head people out," said Miller.

She wants to see more police officers patrolling the streets.

"Let's do something about it; let's get the job done. We need more police officers," said Miller.

The woman's mother said she was shot in the stomach.

So far, no arrests have been made in the case.


http://www.wlky.com/news/child-hospitalized-after-shooting-in-west-louisville/27761676

Baby's grandmother: 'Why do we have to kill?'

Matthew Glowicki, The Courier-Journal 8:42 p.m. EDT August 28, 2014



(Photo: Matt Glowicki )



Twyman Reed loves the Shawnee neighborhood where he's lived for more than 40 years, but like other residents, he's watched it become a "hot spot" of activity, with growing signs of trouble.

In August alone, Louisville Metro Police made 74 calls to the area, including on Wednesday night in the 100 block of 37th Street, where 1-year-old Ne'riah Miller was shot and killed.

"People can't keep turning a blind eye to what's going on," Reed said. "Nobody wants to lose a loved one, but to lose a child? Jesus. It's senseless."

Ne'riah and her mother, 21-year-old Cierra Twyman, were shot by an unidentified gunman outside their home Wednesday night.
Police originally thought it was a drive-by shooting but later said the gunman was on foot.

In a news conference called by Rev. Jerald Muhammad, the girl was identified as Neriah Miller. Frankie Steele, Special to The C-J


The child was transported to Kosair Children's Hospital Wednesday evening where she was pronounced dead at 6:46 p.m. from a single gunshot wound to her torso, said Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Larry Carroll.

Cierra Twyman was in stable condition with non-life threatening injuries at University of Louisville Hospital on Thursday as family members and neighborhood activists gathered at the shooting site to call for change.

"We're supposed to be brothers and sisters. We're supposed to love one another," said Ne'riah's great-grandmother, Sherrie Miller, who described the toddler as a happy girl who loved to dance. "Why do we have to kill?"


COURIER-JOURNAL

Child shot, killed in suspected drive-by shooting

Miller said she believes her great-granddaughter and her mother were not the intended targets and that at least six men were involved in the shooting. Relaying information witnesses have told her, Miller said, one man ran up to the porch where the victims were sitting and fired.

Police would not comment on specifics and said it was an ongoing investigation.

The fatal shooting Wednesday brings the total number of homicides this year to 35, according to LMPD records.

Police spokesman Dwight Mitchell said officers who patrol the neighborhood are re-evaluating personnel placement, as is normal after shootings, but have not yet determined if patrols will be adjusted or additional officers added.

"It's a very sad day for the city," said Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, who Thursday evening visited the scene and met with family members. "There's no conceivable, acceptable reason for this happening in our community."

A press conference was held for a shooting that took place on the 100 block of South 37th Street that took the life of one-year-old Ne’riah Serenity Miller and left the mother, Cierra Twyman, hospitalized. Sherrie Miller, right, great-grandmother and Shamille Miller, left, grandmother of the slain child, comfort each other at the site of the shooting in Louisville, KY. Aug. 28, 2014 (Photo: By Frankie Steele, Special to The C-J)

Fischer, other leaders and family members called on those who might know what happened to come forward and for the community to unite to stop the violence.

Minister Jerald Muhammad of the Louisville Nation of Islam denounced the fatal shooting Thursday morning.

"We have a moral issue in our community," Muhammad said — one that cannot be solved by the city or police alone, he added.

"No matter what facts come out in this particular case ... nothing justifies the shooting of a toddler," he said.

Thursday evening, well over 50 people gathered at the shooting site to support the victims' family and call on the community to work together to find the killer and prevent violence.

"My community is sick," said Ray Barker, a member of Man Up, a group that seeks to reduce violence in the community. "If you don't think we're sick, look at what happened last night."

Pastor Vincent James of Elim Baptist Church on Greenwood Avenue said he sees hope for the future if the community can lay aside its differences.

"We're not going to accept it any longer," James said of crime in the area. "I know the streets know what happen, and the streets will talk. And we need to come together to make sure that happens."

Tijuana Twyman, Cierra Twyman's mother, said at the evening gathering that her daugher is slowly recovering and trying to grasp she no longer has her only child.

"It's sad this had to go on to bring the community together," she said. "This baby, she's never gonna come back. She's never gonna come back."

Reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at (502) 582-4989.


http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/crime/2014/08/28/great-grandmother-dead-child-seeks-justice/14734435/

Fatal Shooting of Child Spurs Call to End Violence
Posted: Fri 10:14 AM, Aug 29, 2014
By: Associated Press

 


LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- The fatal shooting of a 1-year-old girl has spurred family members and community activists to call for an end to violence in the area.

Police say an unknown assailant killed the child on Wednesday and wounded her mother as they sat on a porch outside their home in Louisville's west end.

The Courier-Journal reports police have been called to the community 74 times in August alone.

On Thursday, the child's great grandmother, Sherrie Miller, joined neighborhood activists at the site of the shooting to call for change. Mayor Greg Fischer visited the site on Thursday evening and met with family members.

Fischer, Miller and others called for the person responsible to come forward and for the community to unite in an effort to stop further violence.


http://www.wbko.com/news/headlines/Fatal-Shooting-of-Child-Spurs-Call-to-End-Violence-273185521.html

Family of murdered child make plea to mothers

Posted: Updated:
By Natalia Martinez


Sherrie Miller (Source: WAVE 3 News)

Neriah “NeNe” Miller and Cierra Miller-Twyman (Source: Sherrie Miller)

Michael Dunn (left) and Trey Anderson (right) (Source: WAVE 3 News)



LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - On the door steps of the home where 1-year-old Ne'riah Miller was shot to death, her family made a plea Tuesday for the two men charged in her death to tell police who else may have been involved.

Trey Anderson, 20 and Michael Dunn, 24, are charged with murder, attempted murder and wanton endangerment for the Aug. 30 shooting that killed Ne'riah and injured her mother Cierra Miller-Twyman.

For Ne'riah's great grandmother, Sherrie Miller, the news of the arrests brought her a bit of peace. "I'm glad they got them. I'm glad they got them," she said.


"I look at all the videos I have of her," Sherrie Miller said fighting back tears. "It's a really hurting feeling for my baby, you know. I ain't going to see this no more. No more."

As she spoke Sherrie Miller made a call to action directed toward mothers. She urged them to talk to their kids and be involved to keep them away from violence.

“Please step up to the plate, please,” she said. “That's all I'm asking. To step up to the plate and get our kids back on track."

Ne'riah's aunt, Myika Miller, said she couldn't agree with Sherrie Miller more.

"If you're not teaching your kids the life skills then you are leaving it open for them to be out here in the world, robbing people, killing people, not having a heart," Myika Miller said.

Myika Miller said since the shooting she holds the other children in the family a little tighter and that their story should be a wake-up call for parents whose children may be headed down the wrong path.

"The parents just don't care about these babies, they don't care because they're too busy,” she said. "And it's unfair to the kids."

Sherrie Miller said she had never seen Anderson or Dunn before their arrests.

The family is now working to plan Ne'riah's funeral while Cierra Miller-Twyman remains hospitalized.


http://www.wave3.com/story/26432044/family-of-murdered-child-makes-plea-to-mothers