Hempstead leaders hold 'evening of outrage' over fatal shooting of 12-year old

ByEyewitness News WABC logo
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
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HEMPSTEAD (WABC) -- A Nassau County community held what it called an 'evening of outrage' Tuesday night over the shooting death of a 12-year old girl.

Leaders in Hempstead held a candlelight prayer vigil, saying they are not only sad, but angry over the death of Dejah Joyner.

She was shot in the head on Friday by a stray bullet that pierced a front window of her home.

Community leaders say the gun violence has gotten out of control.

No one has been arrested for Dejah's death.

Sources tell Eyewitness News police are looking at surveillance video that shows someone getting out of a car and firing a shot that missed its intended target.

Nassau County's police commissioner says catching the culprit responsible for the shooting is the department's top priority.

Acting Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter said Monday that detectives had received a "significant number" of tips and have already spent thousands of hours investigating the girl's death.

But Krumpter said progress was being made "very slowly."

Krumpter says detectives are still trying to determine whether the assailant was specifically targeting Joyner or her family. He says investigators are probing all possible motives, including the possibility the shooting was gang-related.


(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)