Photo: Scott Halleran/Getty Images; Harris County Sheriff’s Office
NFL star DeAndre Hopkins is as big-hearted as they come.
“When I see Jazmine Barnes’ face, I see my own daughter,” the 26-year-old football player tweeted Thursday. “I’m pledging my playoff check this week to help her family with funeral costs and to support @shaunking @SherriffED_HCSO @SylvesterTurner in bringing this man to justice. On Saturday, I will be playing in your honor, Jazmine.”
Hopkins’ will donate a playoff check worth $29,000to the family, ESPN reported.
DeAndre Hopkins.Daniel Dunn/Icon Sportswire/Getty
The Texans face the Indianapolis Colts Saturday.
Hopkins joins activist Shaun King and attorney S. Lee Merritt, whoare offering a $100,000 rewardfor information that leads to an arrest in the case, CNN reported.
Jazmine was killed early Sunday near a Walmart outside of Houston early Sunday morning.
The second grader was with her mother and three siblings shortly before 7 a.m. local time when a man pulled up next to them in a red or maroon pickup truck and fired several shots at the vehicle.
One of the bullets hit Jazmine, killing her instantly.
Jazmine Barnes.Harris County Sheriff’s Office
Jazmine’s mother, LaPorsha Washington, 30, was shot once in the arm. Jazmine’s 6-year-old sister sustained injuries from shards of broken glass. Two teens who were in the car escaped uninjured.
Police are searching for the gunman and are trying to determine if the shooting was random or if the shooter targeted the car specifically.
The suspect is described as a bearded white male in his 40s. He was wearing a red hoodie at the time of the shooting.
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Washington spoke with local news station KTRKfrom her hospital bed. She said the bullets “came through my window, broke my glass, and hit me in my arm.” Then, the shooter “sped off in front of us and stopped, and still continued to fire at us.”
She told KTRKthe gunman “intentionally killed my child for no reason. He didn’t even know her. He didn’t even know who she was.”
Jazmine’s father, Christopher Cevilla,asked for the public’s helpin finding his daughter’s killer at a news conference on Monday.
Jazmine’s father, Christopher Cerilla, asking for the public’s help in finding his daughter’s killer at a Dec. 31 press conference.Nicole Hensley/Houston Chronicle/AP
“I just want anybody, whoever, out there that knows anything about the murder of my daughter, to just please step up as if it was your own,” Cevilla said. “Just put yourself in my shoes — in my family’s shoes.”
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez encouraged the shooter to turn himself over to police, saying: “We’re going to find you.
A GoFundMe campaignhas been set up to help Jazmine’s relatives.
Anyone who may have relevant information is asked to call 713-274-9100 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS. Anonymous tips can also be left online atCrime-Stoppers.org.
source: people.com
