A 4-year-old girl shot in Houston on New Year’s Day has been identified as George Floyd’s grandniece. According to local news station ABC 13, Arianna Delane was confirmed as the victim of the violent crime and remains hospitalized with a punctured lung and liver and three broken ribs.
“My daughter jumped up and said, ‘Daddy, I’ve been hit’ and I was shocked until I seen the blood and I realized my 4-year-old daughter was really hit,” said the girl’s father Derrick Delane. “She didn’t know what was going on. She was asleep.”
This is 4-year-old Arianna. She was front and center at the marches and rallies in her Uncle George Floyd’s case.
On Saturday around 3 a.m., her father tells me she was asleep in her bed when someone fired several shots at their apartment. Arianna was hit in her torso. pic.twitter.com/Cpo1oFwase
— Mycah Hatfield (@MycahABC13) January 4, 2022
Delane also shared that law enforcement did not arrive until 7 a.m., more than four hours after the time of the shooting. The child was transported to the emergency room by her mother. Houston Police Chief Troy Finner released a statement sharing he has initiated an Internal Affairs investigation into the department’s response time to the shooting.
“I am aware and have concerns regarding the delayed response time in this incident and have initiated an Internal Affairs investigation. I ask the city [to] continue to pray for the child’s full recovery and assist in providing information that would lead to the arrest of the suspect or suspects responsible,” Finner said in a statement.
According to the official police statement, there is no suspect description or motive in the shooting. Delane believes his residence was targeted in the violent crime.
“Why would my house get shot up?” asked the father. “My daughter don’t know. I can’t explain that to her. As the father, you’re supposed to protect the kids.”