An 8-year-old girl was killed in a senseless act of violence in Augusta, Georgia. Authorities organized a search pursuing two suspects in the fatal shooting of the young girl who was shot while petting horses at her home on Saturday.
Arbrie Leigh Anthony, an honor-roll student at Jenkins-White Elementary School, was visiting her aunt when she was shot. She was playing outside with the neighbor's horses when two suspects driving a red or orange Jeep Compass opened fire, unloading as many as 10 shots, The Daily Beast reports. Arbrie was later declared dead at a local hospital Saturday night.
"We are following up on every lead that comes in, but I cannot and will not accept the fact that no one knows who these suspects are," Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree said to reporters on Monday, according to the Daily Beast. "There are individuals in this community that knew why they were there, knew what they were there for and knew who they were after, but yet they've failed to come forward with this information."
"All acts of violence involving gunfire are senseless but when it comes to a child, we take that one personally," Roundtree, who described the gunmen as "cowards," said.
The police are now requesting the public's help in identifying the suspects.
Arbrie's family said they are stunned.
"It was just a normal Saturday, a normal day. She loved to play outside," Arbrie's aunt, Jamila McDaniel, said to The Augusta Chronicle. "I'm just not understanding why someone would do something like that."
"My brother will never be the same," McDaniel said of the 8-year-old's father. "What that person stole from him, from us, it's so unimaginable the pain and hurt. He took something so precious from us for something so senseless."
McDaniel described her niece as full of spunk and charisma and said she enjoyed TikTok and traveling. School officials at Jenkins-White Elementary said grief counselors would be available to staff and students as they come to terms with Anthony's death.
