CLEVELAND — There are still no answers in a case that’s ripped through the heart of a Cleveland family.
Last Saturday, more than 30 shots hit a house on Cleveland’s east side, one of the bullets fatally struck 6-year-old Lyric Melodi Lawson as she slept inside her own home.
“That night, it replays every day in my mind, every day in my mind,” Deidre Selmon, Lyric’s aunt, said.
It’s the nightmare of last Saturday night, that Selmon can’t shake when six children were supposed to go to sleep but only five woke up.
“This didn't happen from natural causes,” Selmon said. “This happened from the hands of a negligent person.”
“She didn't deserve it, she didn't deserve to be sleep in the house and be critically injured to the point where there was no recovery.”
Lyric’s mom, Ometrice, hasn’t publicly spoken about the incident but other family members have fond memories of the young girl.
“All she wanted to do was watch television, she was a bubbly little girl, goofy, tom boyish,” Selmon said. “She was a little fighter, she was always like that, she had her little fighting ways and she fought until the last minute.”
Her death, and the continued violence in the city, a sobering reminder that this didn’t have to happen.
“What is the purpose? What's the satisfaction that you get from taking a life from someone? The moment you picked up that weapon, you knew that somebody's life could be in danger from it being in your hands,” Selmon said during an interview with NEWSTALK 1490 WERE AM.
In Lyric’s case, there’s no leads right now and no explanation of a motive. The family just has memories and a plea to the person who pulled the trigger.
“Turn yourself in, just turn yourself in. Whatever situation it was, it had nothing to do with that six-year-old child.”
The family has set up a Go Fund Me page under "Justice for Lyric Melodi Lawson" to help the five children and twin sisters find a stable place to live.