Brandoniya Bennett.Photo: GoFundMe
A 22-year-old Texas man will spend nearly five decades in prison after being convicted of murdering a 9-year-old girl after her home was mistakenly targeted in a shooting.
He was found guilty of murder on Thursday.
“The murder of this child remains a senseless and unimaginable tragedy,” District Attorney John Creuzot said in a statement. “While nothing can bring Brandoniya back, I am thankful we are able to send the message that this kind of violence will not be tolerated in Dallas County.”
The little girl had just gotten her nails done for her first day of fourth grade and was walking back to the couch after getting a snack in the kitchen when shots rang out in the Roseland Townhomes on Munger Avenue in Old East Dallas, theDallas Morning Newsreports.
Tyrese Simmons, 19, of Texas.Dallas County Sheriff’s Office/ AP
On the day of the fatal shooting, Benton “was part of a group involved in a fight next door,” Creuzot said. “The fight broke up but he and another man ran around to the back and fired several gunshots into the wrong unit. One of those bullets struck Brandoniya in the head, killing her almost instantly.”
She was rushed to the Baylor University Medical Center where she died.
Benton was arrested on Sept. 5, 2019, on a capital murder charge. He pleaded not guilty.
Simmons turned himself in the day after the shooting, say Dallas Police.
He was charged with capital murder. He pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
‘She Was the Sweetest Thing’
In the meantime, Brandoniya’s family is still struggling to make sense of her tragic loss.
“I’m damaged to my core,” her mother, Sontravia Elder, told the court during Benton’s trial, theDallas Morning Newsreports.
“I have to act like it doesn’t affect me as much as it does,” Elder said.
Described as full of life and love, Tonya Elder said her granddaughter, who the family called “Niya” or “Niy-Niy,” was so excited about the first day of school,WFAAreports.
“She said, ‘I’m going to be in the fourth grade.’ She was ready to go,” she told WFAA.
Elder told WFAA she begged her granddaughter to wake up.
“I said Niya, ‘Get up. Get up for granny one more time.'”
In between sobs, she said, “She was the sweetest thing.”
A GoFundMe pagewas set up to help the family with funeral expenses.
Attorneys for Benton and Simmons could not be immediately reached for comment.
source: people.com
