A three-year-old girl was fatally shot on the eve of her birthday while her mother was home making the final preparations for a party she will never celebrate.
Hellen Silva went out for a walk with a family member Saturday in the Brazilian city of Recife when four hooded gunmen opened fire on a rival in front of a bar and shot the innocent girl.
A family of member told Brazilian news outlet G1 that the suspect held their fire and ran up a staircase where their target had fled through.
A video filmed by a bystander showed Silva’s cousin holding her in her arms before she was rushed to Restauração Hospital, where she died Sunday evening.
The local medical examiner’s office turned Silva’s body over to her mother, Elaine Santos, on Monday morning.
A funeral service and burial was scheduled for later in the day.
Santos told Diario de Pernambuco newspaper that she wanted Silva not to birthday party props because she wanted to keep it a secret.
‘I asked my niece to go down with her, so she wouldn’t see the bags and the sweets, to trick her,’ she recalled, ‘… because kids are always on top of things, wanting to touch everything.’
Hellen Silva died Sunday, on her fourth birthday, just one day after she was shot in the head by gunmen who were attempting to murder a rival outside a bar in Recife, Brazil
Still image from a video show Hellen Silva in the arms of her cousin moments before she was shot in the head
Silva was playing with children near the bar when multiple shots were fired, alarming Santos.
As I was, in my nightclothes, I ran downstairs,’ the distraught mother said. ‘Everyone had already helped her and the police had taken her to the hospital.’
The gunshot wound caused Silva’s brain to lose brain mass.
‘The doctor contacted me and said he couldn’t perform surgery at that moment because she was losing a lot of blood and her blood pressure was very low,’ Santos said.
‘He said he would keep her under observation to see if she returned to normal, to perform the surgery, because if she did so at that moment she would die.’
Little Hellen Silva died Sunday, the same day she was expecting to celebrate her fourth birthday
A family member said the four gunmen stopped shooting at their target once they noticed they had mistakenly shot Hellen Silva
Silva’s senseless murder left a irreparable void in her home.
‘My house is empty. I don’t even know what else to do with my life,’ Santos said. ‘I have another 11-year-old daughter, but no one will replace her.’
No arrests had been made as of Monday afternoon.
‘A police investigation has been opened and further information may be made available after the facts have been fully elucidated,’ The Pernambuco Civil Police said in a statement.