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Valley family mourning sleeping teen killed in drive-by shooting

Phoenix Police said the 15-year-old girl was sleeping in her bed when she was shot by an unknown suspect.

PHOENIX — A Phoenix family is seeking justice after a 15-year-old girl was killed in a drive-by shooting near 107th Avenue and Camelback Road.

Phoenix Police said GiaGinette Brown was sleeping in her bedroom early Sunday morning when she was shot at least one time.

Investigators said the shooting happened between midnight and 3 a.m. on Sunday.

Neighbors told 12News they heard several gunshots around 1 a.m.

Other people were home at the time but weren’t aware Brown was shot until hours later.

“No one heard Gia scream. No one heard any kind of verbal trauma from Gia. She was found in bed,” Sgt. Robert Scherer said.

Officers responded to reports of a person with a gunshot wound around 8 a.m. on Sunday.

Police said they believe the house was targeted, but Brown might have been unintentionally struck.

“There’s no information that leads us to believe that Gia was the target of this,” Scherer said.

The family is incredibly shaken after the loss.

“Gia was a great person. She was an innocent soul. She didn’t do anything to deserve what happened to her,” Paris Holmes, Brown’s sister, said.

Brown’s aunt, Terri Smith, said there are bullet holes in the back of their house, leading into the room where her niece was sleeping.

“She is 15 years old and went to bed in her house, which should be a safe spot,” Smith said.

Smith said Brown was a Varsity cheerleader at West Point High School in Avondale.

“Gia had the personality of that you could not even put into a jar or a pocket,” Terri Smith, Brown’s aunt, said.

The family is seeking justice, asking that anyone who knows anything to say something.

“Whether this was a random act of violence, I have no idea, but I will tell you right now, they took a life that this world is going to miss,” Smith said.

The family created a GoFundMe page to help pay for funeral expenses.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the Phoenix police or call Silent Witness to remain anonymous.

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Silent Witness:

Arizona's Silent Witness program allows people to send in tips and share information about crimes happening within their local communities.

The program shares unsolved felony case information in multiple ways, including TV, radio and social media.

Anyone who has information on a crime or recognizes a suspect described by the program is asked to call 480-948-6377, go to the program's website online or download the Silent Witness app to provide a tip. The identity of anyone who submits a tip is kept anonymous.

Calls to Silent Witness are answered 24/7 by a live person and submitted tips are accepted at all times. Submitted tips are then sent to the detective(s) in charge of the specific case.

Individuals who submit tips that lead to an arrest or indictment in the case can get a reward of up to $1,000.

Have a tip? Submit it on the Silent Witness tip form here.

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