Girl, 9, Fatally Shot While Jumping on Trampoline at Birthday Party

Trinity Ottoson-Smith, a 9-year-old Minnesota girl who was shot in the head while jumping on a trampoline at a birthday party, died from her injuries in hospital on Thursday.

"For the last 12 days, she fought for her life and today that fight ended," Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder said during a press conference on Thursday evening. "At 4:04 p.m. she was pronounced deceased at the hospital."

Members of Trinity's family confirmed to Fox 9 of Minneapolis that the girl had been in a critical condition in hospital since the shooting on May 15.

At around 8:30 p.m. that Saturday, Trinity was jumping on a trampoline at a friend's party in the 2200 block of Ilion Avenue North, north Minneapolis, when she was struck in the head by a stray bullet fired from a vehicle.

The shooter, who was in a red Ford, drove away shortly after the incident, local police said at the time. No arrests have yet been made in relation to the incident.

At Thursday's press conference, Elder praised the actions of the responding authorities, saying: "Our officers who showed up at this scene with the 9-year-old girl critically injured with a gunshot to her head knowingly violated policy by picking this girl up."

He said the officers rushed the child over to the squad car and took her "to the hospital, doing what they could to save her life. That's who the Minneapolis Police Department is."

Trinity is one of three children who have been shot in the head in Minneapolis in the past four weeks, and the second to die from her injuries.

Aniya Allen, 6, died on May 19, just two days after she was shot in the head by a stray bullet while sitting in her mother's car at a McDonald's restaurant. She was the granddaughter of local activist K.G. Wilson.

On 30 April, a 10-year-old boy, Ladavionne Garrett Jr., was shot in the head while sitting in the back of his parents' car in north Minneapolis. Fox 9 reported that Ladavionne remains in a critical condition in hospital.

Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce has offered a $30,000 reward for any information that leads to the arrest of the shooters in the three incidents.

Elder said "several teams of investigators" had been assigned to the three cases, but confirmed that, despite a large number of tips, no one has yet been arrested in relation to the children's shootings.

Newsweek has contacted the Minneapolis Police Department for further comment.