'Happy' Mo. Girl, 7, and Her Dad Are Fatally Shot While Sitting in Parked Car

Jeff Truesdell
·2 min read

Darrion Fleming with daughter Dmyah Fleming

A 7-year-old girl on her way to her grandmother's house died after she and her father were shot in a car on a St. Louis street Sunday night.

The child, identified by family members as Dmyah Fleming, "was happy," said one of her grandmothers, Suketha Rankin, reports KMOV. "I loved her and she loved me."

Police say the girl and her father, Darrion Fleming, 26, were sitting in his parked car when someone approached and shot them both around 8 p.m. Sunday.

The father died at the scene; the girl died later at a hospital.

Police suspect the unidentified shooter knew the victims.

"If they knew (her father), then they knew her, and they knew how she was," said another grandmother, Yolanda Johns, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "She was the sweetest baby doll. If she was standing right here, she'd probably be able to stand and talk and communicate with you better than I'm doing right now."

She added: "That was his first child ... his whole life centered on Dmyah. He'd never put her in harm's way."

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A friend of the father's, Terri Moore, said, "I just know he was a great dad to her," reports KSDK. "I hope they figure it out."

Rankin told KMOV that she and her granddaughter "just had the best weekend ever," saying, "I taught her how to bake. We baked cakes this weekend and she wants to be like me. We boxed up her little cakes, made her a business logo and next week we (were) doing business cards."

About her son (the girl's father) she said: "Everybody loves him. He's funny, he's a joker, he's just a real person."

Police asked anyone with information to call 314-444-5371, and the reward for information totaled $30,000 -- $5,000 from the Central West End Neighborhood Security Initiative, $10,000 from CrimeStoppers and $15,000 from the city of St. Louis.