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A 14-year-old girl has been arrested and charged with the murder of a Californian non-profit founder’s daughter more than a month after she was shot and killed.
Kendra McIntrye, 20, was fatally shot in a random killing in the early hours of 21 March while walking near the southeast corner of 70th Street and Figueroa Street, near a South Los Angeles elementary school.
She was transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead, police said.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner said that the victim was shot in the head and neck.
The female juvenile suspect was arrested on Monday without incident at the 77th Division station and was charged with murder the following day, according to LAPD.
Investigators have recovered the firearm allegedly used in the shooting and also believe that the killing appears to be random, reported CBS.
McIntyre is the daughter of Debra Rush, the co-founder of Fresno nonprofit Breaking the Chains, which helps people who are impacted by human trafficking.
On a GoFundMe set up on behalf of Ms Rush, the description writes that McIntyre’s life was taken from her in a “senseless act of violence, leaving Debra and her family devastated.”
Ms Rush is a survivor of human trafficking herself, having endured several months of trafficking in 1999, according to a profile on the nonprofit’s website.
In a statement around a week after her daughter’s death, Ms Rush wrote on Breaking the Chains Facebook page a tribute to her daughter, suggesting that McIntyre was also a victim of trafficking, the very crime her mother was working to eradicate.
“I don’t know when exactly the first trafficker was able to lore her in, I will probably never know that, but what I do know all too well is that once you walk through that door, it is an iron vault that can only be unlocked by the person within it,” the statement read.
Her daughter had suffered “early childhood trauma,” had a “severe mental health issue that emerged seemingly out of nowhere,” and had been dealing with bipolar disorder since 14 years old.
"My daughter never got the chance to unlock her vault," Ms Rush wrote, in part. "Even though we stood outside, banging on the door, crying and pleading for her to open it."
While little was known about the suspect, Ms Rush has pondered whether the 14-year-old was also from “the streets,” despite detectives saying that the shooting appears to be a random attack.
“I highly suspect this is another girl from the streets out there,” Ms Rush told GV Wire. “So I’m very cautious because my heart hurts for her as well. I know it’s hard to say, but my heart hurts for this kid as well. Like I said, I highly doubt that this was something she did without provocation from somebody else.”
After the arrest was announced, Ms Rush said in another statement on Wednesday that “our hearts overflow with gratitude for the LAPD detectives, tirelessly working to bring closure.”
“Yet, amidst the relief, our sorrow remains. No justice can fill the void of losing our beautiful daughter,” she added.
Anyone with additional information is urged to contact South Bureau Homicide Division detectives at (323) 786-5100, during non-business hours or on weekends at 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (1-877-527-3247) and anonymously to the L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477) or go directly to www.lacrimestoppers.org.
