Police: Older brother's friend brought loaded weapons into home where 6-year-old was killed
DALLAS - Six-year-old Ah 'Laynah Modica-Ross was sweet, smart and had just celebrated a birthday. That's according to family members who are now planning her funeral.
The kindergartener found a loaded weapon in the family's townhome off Fitzhugh in Dallas on Wednesday. Police say an older brother's friend brought the weapons into the home.
"It's a nightmare... we're living a nightmare right now," shares her grandfather, Michael Key. "And it's hurting me real bad."
Ah'Laynah's mother was alerted about the shooting as she was at a local funeral home dressing her fourteen year old son, Ah'Bralen Rider. Her was murdered at a friend's apartment just prior to the new year. It seems almost surreal: two children lost to gun violence within a matter of days.
"Overwhelmed", breathed the grief-stunned mother, Brittney Ross, while grabbing a few things from the family's townhome. "I... just... I don't know." Ross says Ah'Bralen's funeral, initially planned for Saturday, will be postponed so they can now plan a double funeral.
Last week, she spoke to CBS News Texas about her fourteen year old after he was shot and killed, sharing that "He was quiet. When you see him, he was always smiling, he wasn't a troubled kid."
And yet, trouble found him. Another teen was arrested and charged with manslaughter in Ah'Bralen's death. When Ross spoke to CBS News Texas, a somber faced Ah'Laynah was at her side.
Family members tell us they're angry that the kindergartener wasn't safe in her own home.
"Actually, I didn't know there was a gun in this house," says Key, "and that's what I'm so upset about right now. If there was a gun in this house, the gun should have been put in a safe location where she couldn't have reached it or got ahold of it... Very upset about that, and I'm just hurt."
An older sibling's friend, 19-year-old Damariya Sowels was arrested and charged with tampering with physical evidence in the child's death. Sowels also had several outstanding warrants. He was arrested at 17 for unlicensed carrying of a weapon, and two charges for evading arrest.
Ross, meanwhile, is defending the 19 year old accused of bringing the weapons into her home, saying she has known for the teen for years and that he would never have harmed any of her children. Ross says Sowels needed the guns for "protection" after he and her surviving son received threats following the shooting death of her 14 year old.
According to the arrest warrant filed in this case, Sowels admitted to bringing 2 firearms to the townhome the day before the shooting and "placed the MAC 10 on top of the Playstation in the bedroom on the 3rd floor." The warrant goes on to say that following the shooting, Sowels retrieved the gun involved in Ah'Laynah's death "along with the other firearm, a Glock 40" and hid them in his backpack that he stashed in the garage. Police later seized both weapons.
"I don't know how I'm gonna cope, this was my heart," shares Key. "This baby was special."