10-year-old girl struck, killed by stray bullet in NW Miami-Dade while celebrating New Year's Day
HIALEAH - A New Year's Day celebration turned tragic when a 10-year-old girl was struck and killed by a stray bullet in Northwest Miami-Dade.
According to police, Yanelis Munuguia was with her family in the parking lot in front of their apartment, at NW 27 Avenue and NW 21 Terrace, lighting fireworks around 1:30 a.m. to celebrate the new year when she was struck in the head by a bullet. Yanelis collapsed to the ground. Her parents immediately went over to examine exactly what happened to her, and they noticed an injury to the back of her head.
Her family put her in a car with the intent of driving her to the hospital. During the frantic drive, they called 911. They were met by Hialeah Fire Rescue at Palm Avenue and W 3 Street who took the girl to the Ryder Trauma Center where she died.
"Shooting a gun into the sky has consequences. Who paid? A little girl. What did the girl do? Nothing. What fault did she have? But that's the way things are," said family member Carlos Gutierrez.
Police believe the person who fired the shot was probably shooting into the air to celebrate the start of 2025 and had no idea that a bullet had struck someone. Law enforcement and community leaders have stressed that firing a gun to celebrate an occasion is a dangerous act, in this case, it was deadly.
"We speak time and time again every new year about the fact that what goes up must come down. This is a prime example of the dangers of shooting a firearm indiscriminately into the air. We have a 10-year-old girl who lost her life at the beginning of the year," said Miami-Dade Detective Andre Martin.
Yanelis had just celebrated her 10th birthday on the day after Christmas. Now Yanelis' family is planning her funeral on the first day of the new year.
"It is a great loss and it's a disgrace that a 10-year-old girl was killed by this bullet. You can only imagine how the parents are feeling and the family. A moment of joy turns into a tragedy. The public needs to be aware that you can not do these things," said a family member. "I'm encouraging people if you know something, say something."
"If you know anyone who was firing weapons into the air on New Year's Eve you need to come forward and speak to detectives. If you were the person firing into the air, you need to do the right thing. Accidents happen. This may not have been done on purpose. You need to come forward and talk to detectives," said Detective Martin.
A reward of up to $5,000 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest.
