Girl who prayed for end to gun violence is killed in shooting, Wisconsin police say
Four years ago, 11-year-old Anisa Scott prayed for an end to gun violence. Last week, she was shot and killed while riding in a car, struck in the head by a bullet Wisconsin police believe was intended for the driver.
“I’m so scared,” Anisa said in a 2016 video by Madison, Wisconsin filmmaker Rafael Charles Ragland, who is also the father of Scott’s half-sister, outlets report.
“They won’t stop shooting, they won’t stop killing, they won’t stop it. God, can you make it better?” Anisa asked on the video, when she was just 7.
“I just want to go outside and play, like a 7-year-old is supposed to do. I don’t want to die.”
The video was filmed after Anisa had returned from a trip to Chicago with her mother, Anija Rios, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
Chicago was a hotbed for gun violence in 2016, with 762 murders, 3,500 shootings and 4,331 shooting victims, according to the Chicago Police Department, CNN reported. It was the deadliest year in almost 20 years in Chicago, CNN reported.
She “believed God could fix it,” Ragland said.
The video had around 800 views when it was first published. By Monday, it had 30,000 more, the outlet reported.
“I’m so confused honestly because the same thing she was praying about, praying that it doesn’t happen to her, then it turns around and happens to her,” Ragland told the Wisconsin State Journal. “It just devastates me.”
Madison police have arrested two teenage suspects in the murder, Andre P. Brown, 16, and Perion R. Carreon, 19., Both face chargesof first-degree intentional homicide, and attempted first-degree intentional homicide, according to a Facebook post by Madison police.
Carreon was picked up Wednesday, the day after the shooting, while driving a stolen car, police said. He also had a loaded handgun in his waistband, according to police. Brown was arrested Friday.
Because of the severity of the crime, Brown could be tried as an adult, according to police.
Anisa’s family took her off of life support at 11:11 a.m. on Thursday, representing her age and the date (Aug. 11) she was shot, CNN reported.
“I’d like to extend my condolences, and that of the entire Madison Police Department, to the family of Anisa, who suffered an unimaginable loss,” acting police chief Victor Wahl said. “I hope that the community continues to support them and that today’s arrests help their healing process in some small way.”
