HOPEWELL, Va. — Brionna Taylor has a plea for the public.
The Hopewell mother asked that someone come forward with information to help catch those responsible for a drive-by shooting that killed her daughter.
Eight-year-old P'Aris Mi-Unique Angel Moore was killed Friday afternoon.
She was days away from her ninth birthday.
"We're supposed to be planning birthday parties. Not funerals," Taylor said Saturday. "This is crazy to me."
Taylor spoke at the family home only a few blocks from where her daughter was killed.
The child was a bystander in the shooting as she rode her bike at her cousin's house.
"It's crazy to me that people are so senseless and careless. Like, for one you shouldn't be shooting anyway. But, two, you see this big pink bike? You see these little people? Because you saw them. I know you saw them. But to shoot her in her back?" asked Taylor. "My baby was trying to come home. She was trying to get home."
Taylor said in the 24 hours since the shooting she is still lost and trying to make sense of it.
"It's not fair," she added.
Taylor said Moore was the second youngest of her six children (one of four girls).
"She was the lit one out of the crew. She was like me. Everything she did was like me. She was my twin. My baby."
A memorial of flowers, messages, and teddy bears was set up outside her house by the church Moore attended.
"She went to church every Wednesday. She did not miss a Wednesday of church. She loved church," Taylor said.
The search for those responsible for her death continues.
Hopewell Police said they are working around the clock and were back in the neighborhood Saturday interviewing neighbors.
Police said they are still trying to determine a motive and are trying to identify "a light-colored four-door sedan with tinted windows speeding through the area at the time of the shooting that may be related to the homicide."
"If anybody wants to, you know, help out -- tell me who did it. That's it. That's the biggest thing anybody can do is just tell me who did it," said Taylor, who added she wanted the shooter to turn themselves in. "And at least give an apology to my kids. Not that it's going to mean anything to us. But, give us an apology. Be a man. You were shooting the gun like a man. Be a man. Be a man. Just come forward."
The family set up a GoFundMe to help cover costs associated with Moore's death.
Hopewell Schools posted about the student's death on Saturday. Moore was a third-grader at Harry E. James Elementary School.
"P'Aris was a precious angel, well known and supported by her elementary school family," the post read. "The senseless gun violence in our city must stop, and as sad as it is, we can only pray that this horrific incident and resulting loss of life will be the catalyst for the change and action we need in Hopewell to get this under control once and for all."
Anyone with information was asked to contact the Hopewell Criminal Investigations Unit at (804) 541-2284. To remain anonymous contact the Hopewell Prince George Crime Solvers hotline in Hopewell at (804) 541-2202 or provide their tip using the P3tips website and/or the mobile app.
Depend on CBS 6 News and WTVR.com for in-depth coverage of this important local story. Anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
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