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George Floyd's 4-Year-Old Niece Shot And Wounded In Houston As Family Questions Police Response Time
Arianna Delane was asleep in the bedroom of a second-floor apartment when someone fired several shots — but her own mother had to take her to the hospital.
The 4-year-old niece fo George Floyd was shot by an unknown assailant while in her bed in Houston early on New Year's Day, and her family has questions about the police response.
Arianna Delane, 4, is the daughter of Derrick Delane and the niece of Floyd, who was murdered by now-former Minneapolis police office Derek Chauvin in May 2020, reported Houston ABC affiliate KTRK. According to the Houston Police Department, Delane (who the police did not identify) was shot around 2:55 a.m. on New Year's Day after someone fired several rounds into the apartment where she and her parents live.
Arianna Delane, police say, was hit in the torso and transported to the hospital "in a private vehicle." Her father, who identified her to the media, told KTRK that it was her mother who took Arianna to the hospital; the little girl had three broken ribs, a punctured liver and a punctured lung. She is still at the hospital.
The family lives in a garden-style apartment complex listed as a gated community with 210 units; the entire property is built faround a cul-de-sac off a boulevard five miles south of downtown Houston. The Delane's apartment is on the second floor; Derrick Delane says his daughter was asleep in the front-facing bedroom when she was shot.
"My daughter jumped up and said, 'Daddy, I've been hit,'" he told KTRK. "And I was shocked until I seen the blood and I realized my 4-year-old daughter was really hit."
He told the station that he doesn't know why someone was firing on their apartment — but he's concerned because it took the police nearly four hours to respond to the call. According to Delane, though their daughter was shot at 3:00 a.m., Houston police did not arrive to investigate the incident until 7:00 a.m.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner confirmed that there is an investigation into the department's response.
"I am aware and have concerns regarding the delayed response time in this incident and have initiated an Internal Affairs investigation," he said in a statement posted to the department's Twitter account.
The department refused to confirm Delane's allegation due to the Internal Affairs investigation, KTRK reported.
"I ask the city continue to pray for the child's full recovery and assist in providing information that would lead to the arrest of the suspect or suspects responsible," Finner added.
The department's press release on the shooting says the department had no suspects or motives as of Tuesday.
The department encouraged anyone with information to call the department's Major Assaults & Family Violence Division at (713) 308-8800 or Crime Stoppers at (713) 222-TIPS.
