9-year-old girl sleeping on couch killed when shots fired into Alabama home, cops say

UPDATE: The Mobile Police Department announced the arrests of two people in the death of 9-year-old Cailee Knight. Tyrone Williams, 19, and Ariel Curry, 22, are charged with felony murder and shooting into an occupied dwelling.

“I have a daughter,” Curry told the media after she was arrested in a video shared by WKRG. “I didn’t.”

She said she was in the car but said she didn’t know who shot the girl. She described it as an instance of “wrong place, wrong time.”

Williams also told the media he did nothing wrong. He said he was sorry for the family’s loss and said Cailee’s mom knows he did nothing wrong, and she should say that in court.

The original story is below.

A 9-year-old girl was sleeping on the couch when shots fired into an Alabama home fatally struck her, police said.

Now, officials with the Mobile Police Department are asking the community for help.

At around 2 a.m. Dec. 5, ”unknown subjects” shot into a home in Mobile with multiple children inside, police said in a news release.

First responders rushed the girl to a hospital, where she died of her injuries, according to police. No one else was reported injured in the shooting.

“This was a senseless act,” Mobile Chief Paul Prine said in a news conference broadcast by WALA. “And it ain’t just this family that’s got to grieve, this entire community is going to grieve.”

Prine said the incident was likely gang-related as officials asked the community for help solving the case.

“I want to convey to the community just how sickened I am of these types of crimes,” Prine said.

Mobile Police Major Linda Tims promised to bring the girl justice.

Mobile is in southern Alabama, near the border with Mississippi.

This story was originally published December 5, 2023 at 6:05 PM with the headline "9-year-old girl sleeping on couch killed when shots fired into Alabama home, cops say."