FLORIDA CITY, FLA. (WSVN) - - A devastated family is reeling after authorities said a 5-year-old girl was shot and killed inside her mother’s Florida City home.
Cameras captured the moment when Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews wheeled Ja’nova Parks into HCA Florida Kendall Hospital, early Wednesday morning. Sadly, she would not survive.
The child’s paternal grandmother, Laticha Ellison, was in a bed at the hospital being treated for a heart condition — unaware that her granddaughter had just been airlifted there.
“I got a call at 6 o’clock this morning and says that my granddaughter was shot,” said Ellison.
Upon learning the news, Ellison rushed to the home where the overnight shooting took place — barefoot and still in her hospital gown.
“My grandbaby is 5 years old, she’s only 5,” she said as she fought back tears.
Florida City Police units responded to the scene along Northwest First Court, near 14th Street, at around 2 a.m.
According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, the child suffered a gunshot wound to the torso, but detectives did not specify the circumstances behind the shooting.
Investigators said Parks’ mother and two other adults were inside the home at the time of the shooting.
“The community has questions, and so do we,” said MDSO spokesperson Angel Rodriguez. “At the time of the shooting, there were three adults and two children: the victim, who’s 5 years old, and her 4-year-old brother.”
Officers cordoned off a portion of the street, lined with homes and apartments, while they conducted their investigation.
“Detectives have that very difficult task of trying to determine, to piece together what was it that happened at the residence,” said Rodriguez.
Detectives said a responding Florida City Police officer drove Parks and her mother to Baptist Health Homestead Hospital. The child was then airlifted to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Family members were seen anxiously waiting near the entrance to the hospital’s emergency room.
Back at the scene, 7News cameras captured a woman who appeared to be a loved one arriving to the scene visibly distraught. She drove off shortly after.
Neighbors were saddened to hear about the girl’s death.
“That’s just too small to leave this world like that, too early,” said area resident Betty Hammond. “I wonder how the parents are taking that, you know?”
Detectives are exploring the possibility that Parks died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but Ellison does not believe that is what happened inside the home.
“Never in a million years I would believe that she would pick up a gun,” she said. “And a gun shouldn’t be anywhere around them for them to pick up.”
Ellison described her granddaughter as bubbly, intelligent and full of life. She last saw Parks when she took the child to swimming lessons on Saturday.
“It makes me angry, because nothing like this should be able to happen, especially in your home,” said Ellison.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office has taken over this ongoing investigation. Detectives said they have recovered the gun from the home, adding it’s still too early to determine how the shooting happened.
While no arrests have been made in connection to the fatal shooting, 32-year-old Ashley Hosendove, Parks’ mother, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct related to an arrest warrant dating back to March. Hosendove remains behind bars at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on $1,500 bond.
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