Man Fires Into Car Full Of Kids And Allegedly Kills His 4-Year-Old Niece

The car was full of children when he opened fire.

It was around 10:20 A.M. when Ronald Jones Jr. allegedly discharged his weapon into a car driven by his sister, according to The Miami Herald. Inside the car: his niece, 4-year-old Nyla Jones and two other small children. The niece was taken to a hospital in Miami, where she died. Other children in the car suffered injuries from being grazed by bullets and glass.

Jones' sister, Sharonda Mitchell, said the shooting was a terrible accident. 

“He didn’t even know the kids were in there,” she told The Miami Herald. “He would have never done that on purpose. He loves his nieces and nephews.”

Mitchell talked to Jones to get his side of the story, she said. He told her he got into a fight with a different sister and in the heat of the moment, he snatched his gun from his waistband to put it somewhere else, but it went off.

He drove away and crashed his car near a dollar store, deploying both airbags, according to ABC 10 News. He later turned himself in to police. 

Jones was charged with one count of second-degree murder and three counts of attempted second-degree murder with a deadly weapon.

Nyla's unused Easter basket was surrounded by balloons and teddy bears on Sunday, a memorial to a girl who loved to play outside with her cousins. 

Mitchell told the Herald that instead of watching the kids run around and hunt for Easter eggs, they're left planning a funeral.

[Photo: Miami-Dade Department of Corrections]