LAYLAH PETERSON - 5 yo (11/14) - Milwaukee, WI

Milwaukee girl, 5, shot dead sitting on grandfather’s lap, watching TV: cops 

Little Laylah Peterson was gunned down Thursday afternoon as she sat on a couch in what cops called a senseless and heinous crime without a motive. The girl was remembered as sparky and playful by mourning family members, who gathered Friday to grieve.

 
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, November 7, 2014, 2:38 PM
Handout Little Laylah Petersen, 5, was just watching TV when two gunmen opened fire on a Milwaukee home, spraying it with 12 bullets, including one of which hit the innocent girl in the head.


A 5-year-old girl was shot dead as she sat on her grandfather's lap watching TV inside his Milwaukee home in what cops called a senseless and “heinous crime” without motive.

Little Laylah Petersen, described as a “real life angel” and “wild child,” had no chance to run when two callous gunmen walked up outside the north side home and fired several shots around 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

One hit the smiling, happy little girl in the head. She was born Sept. 23, 2009.

“There is no reason conceivable that I can think of that would explain this violent remorseless act,” Milwaukee police Chief Ed Flynn told reporters. “I have no idea what was in the minds of these actors. What I do know is that we're going to find them. We're going to arrest them, and they're going to go to jail.”

Photos of the scene show at least five bullet holes through a plate glass window of the gray-colored home along N. 58th St. in the city. A growing memorial of stuffed animals and balloons could be seen on the front steps of the home, described as a “stable working-class neighborhood” by Flynn.

"She was our wild child; she was full of life," the girl’s aunt, Amanda Legler, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "Just last week we went trick or treating and she told me Ti-Ti Manna, I love you more than science. That was just Laylah she was so bizarre and so cute. She was just the happiest child you'll ever meet."

Family members surrounded the girl’s father, Richard Petersen, and prayed as the devastated dad visited the scene of the murder Friday, the newspaper reported.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives offered during a noontime press conference a $5,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the killer.

No motive has presented itself, cops said, in a “heinous crime” that “befuddles” the force.

WITIMilwaukee Police Capt. Aaron Rapp said Friday that there seems to be no motive in the senseless crime that left the little girl dead.

“In this case, at this point, we believe this bullet read, ‘to whom it may concern,’ and that concerns all of us, and should concern the entire community,” Police Capt. Aaron Rapp said.

The girl’s grandfather, known as Bob, spent some four decades in the neighborhood, but was so shaken, he couldn’t bear to return, neighbors told the Journal Sentinel.

"I cannot rest until they find who did this to our baby," Laylah's aunt, Jocelyn Petersen, told the paper. "This is more than just a 5-year-old. She was somebody's granddaughter, she was a niece, she was like an angel and now she's real life angel, but it was too soon. ... We need justice for Laylah."


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/wis-girl-5-shot-dead-sitting-grandfather-lap-cops-article-1.2003015