George Floyd‘s 4-year old great-niece was shot in what seems to be a targeted attack on the family.
According to Houston ABC 13, Arianna Delane was struck in the torso by a bullet just before 3 a.m. on January 1 while she was sleeping in bed at her Houston home. Her father, Derrick Delane, said their apartment was hit several times by gunfire.
“My daughter jumped up and said, ‘Daddy, I’ve been hit’ and I was shocked until I seen the blood and I realized my 4-year-old daughter was really hit,” Derrick recalled. “She didn’t know what was going on. She was asleep.”
Arianna’s mother Bianca, who is George’s niece, drove her to the hospital. Reports say it took emergency responders 4 hours to arrive at the scene.
Her father says she suffered a punctured lung and liver, and 3 broken ribs. She underwent surgery and is now in stable condition.
No arrests have been made yet.
Arianna attend some protests last year for her uncle George, an unarmed Black man who was killed by Minneapolis police officers in 2020.
Late Tuesday afternoon, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner launched an Internal Affairs investigation into the department’s response time to the shooting. Arianna’s father said police didn’t arrive until 7 a.m., more than four hours after the time of the incident.
As for Arianna her dad said, “She’s healing very fast. The last time I checked on her she was breathing on her own. She was doing really great.”
Police urge anyone with information in the case to contact HPD Major Assaults and Family Violence Division at 713-308-8800 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).
