Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A drive-by shooting has resulted in the death of an area child.

The Lake Charles Police is requesting anyone who might have information regarding this crime, call 337-491-1311.

Deputy Chief Franklin Fondel Jr. said a number of crime scene investigators and the coroner’s office were at the scene Monday morning, processing the area and collecting evidence that could lead to a suspect.

Fondel said his office was notified of a shooting late Sunday on Mill Street.

“Upon officers’ arrival here to the 1400 block of Mill Street, officers learned a 6-year-old female child was shot due to a drive-by shooting,” Fondel said.

When the ambulance arrived, it was determined the child was dead, according to Fondel.

“This is very disturbing,” he said repeatedly. “A 6-year-old child was in the residence watching TV, and a drive-by shooting took this child’s life.”

He spoke of the necessity of an investigation that “dots every I and crosses every T” in order to make the kind of case that could help give some sense of closure to the family.

Fondel said in his 20 years in Lake Charles Police Department law enforcement, three young people’s lives have been claimed in drive-by shootings, a 13-year-old, an 11-year-old and now a 6-year-old.

Separate shooting

An innocent bystander is believed to have been hit when multiple persons began exchanging gunfire Sunday in a Jennings neighborhood, police said.

The shooting happened at 8:10 p.m. Sunday in the 1300 block of West Street, just off South Main Street, according to Police Chief Danny Semmes.

“Our officers responded to the area after receiving reports of shots being fired,” Semmes said. “They discovered about 25 shell casings at two locations indicating the shots were fired by multiple persons.”

“We have obtained a search warrant for one of the cars which we believe was involved in the actual incident,” Semmes said.

Police on Monday did not have a description of any vehicles or suspects believed to be involved in the shooting, as the suspects involved fled the scene before authorities arrived.

Police are asking anyone who may have seen or heard anything or who may have security camera video from the area at the time of the shooting to contact the anonymous police tip line at 337-275-9002.