MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A two-year-old girl was shot, after being caught in the crossfire of a volatile argument, and Memphis Police say the person accused of shooting the girl, Carlos Velasquez, is facing charges.
Detectives said a shootout led to the crime scene tape and flashing lights on Bellevue in the Medical District.
A man told officers he had been in a wreck with another man riding a motorcycle on Sunday. Several hours after the crash, the motorcyclist, accompanied by seven family members, came to his house.
The man says he felt threatened and after they surrounded him with several vehicles, he punched the motorcyclist. That’s when he says the motorcyclist’s son, now identified as Carlos Velasquez, started shooting.
The victim shot back in self defense.
A neighbor who didn’t want to be identified said they heard chaos.
“I came outside and there was just a group of people yelling and screaming at each other. I would say there must have been 10 to 12 people,” the person said.
Caught in the crossfire, a bullet struck the motorcyclist’s two-year-old granddaughter. Officers say she was sitting inside one of the vehicles used to surround the other man involved in the crash.
“It just don’t make sense. It don’t,” said Demetrius Graham, who also heard gunfire.
Graham said the bullets were too close to home.
“I was heartbroken because I have a handicap daughter and if they were shooting that close by the house it could’ve come through the windows or anything so I think about my handicap daughter,” Grahman said.
WREG-TV went to the address listed for the multiple family members involved in the fight to try to hear about the little girl’s recovery but no one came to the door.
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