COOLIDGE, Ariz. — Miyka Crawford had an entire life ahead of her.
The 14-year-old had dreams of becoming an entrepreneur and owning her own business, but that goal was cut short.
On Thursday, she was killed while she slept inside her Coolidge home near Main Street and Coolidge Avenue.
“She had so much ahead of her, like so many things she could have done,” said Antoinette Scott, Miyka’s aunt. “Innocent. Just a child, in the safest place you can be, at home and she was killed.”
It was around 12:30 a.m. when Coolidge police said they got a 911 regarding a child who had been shot.
When first responders arrived on the scene, they found Miyka suffering from a headshot wound. She was taken to Florence Anthem Hospital where she died.
“She was just a life, bubbly, energetic, family-oriented,” said Joyce Monroe, the victim’s grandmother. “A 14-year-old should be going to her prom, her first dance. She should be going to high school… not this.”
Miyka, her sister, and her mother were watching a movie and lying down in the living room when they all fell asleep. After midnight someone in a car opened fire on the house.
The barrage of bullets hit the front of the home, windows, and roof about a dozen times. One of them struck Miyka in the head.
Scott said the 14-year-old’s mother and sister woke up to the sound of the bullets and found Miyka injured.
“That’s something they’ll never get out of their head and something they’ll live with for the rest of their life,” said Scott.
Police said numerous 9mm and 40 caliber spent casings were recovered from the street near the home. Some of the bullets pierced through the concrete walls into the living room and bedrooms.
The suspect vehicle, a blue-colored Kia sedan, had been reported stolen from Eloy. It was found unoccupied in Gilbert after the shooting.
“Where looking into the motive of why this particular house was targeted, that’s the major question that we’re all asking right now,” said Coolidge Police Commander Mark Tercero.
The family tells 12News that a fourth person was inside the home when the shooting happened. A family friend who had been staying with them for about a week, and who they believe the shooters might have had an issue with.
“The things that he did, where he lived previously, just traveled with him,” Scott said. “In my heart, I don’t think there was malicious intent with him. I just think he underestimated whomever he did wrong.”
Now, Miyka’s mother is left with aching pain. Her sister and family remember her young life gone too soon.
“She was just everybody’s little Miyka, the cheerleader and I just know that her living was not in vain,” said the 14-year-olds grandmother. “They will be caught. They will be brought to justice.”
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