Toddler killed, woman critically injured in Dallas party shooting

DALLAS - A Sunday night party in Dallas turned deadly after a drive-by shooting. One of the victims is a toddler who died from her gunshot wounds.

It happened around 9:30 p.m. in a neighborhood near Fair Park. Police said someone fired shots at a large gathering outside a home near Haskell and East Grand avenues.

The family had gathered on the birthday of a relative, a 38-year-old woman killed in a drive-by shooting in Crandall area back in February. Now, a 2-year-old was killed in the same manner in another senseless drive-by shooting.

Family members told FOX 4 that 2-year-old Zyah ‘Tinky’ Lacy was inside a vehicle when she was shot twice. A woman was also shot and critically injured.

"We were outside just taking pictures, celebrating. We heard gunshots," recalled Debra Harper-Smith, Zyah’s step-grandmother. "Everybody started to run. I grabbed my grandbaby when I was running with her. I got behind a truck. And when I felt the blood, I went to hollering, ‘My baby's shot!’"  

Zyah was hit twice. Family put her in a car and rushed her to the closest hospital where she died.

"A piece of us has been taken," said Tomeka Staten, Zyah’s paternal grandmother. "Someone out there saw something, and we're pleading on today if it was your 2-year-old granddaughter, daughter, niece, or cousin, how would you feel?"

The happy time turned horrific was at a house in the 4700 block of Hay Street in Old East Dallas. Hay Street is about a block east of Haskell Avenue that it seems is where the gunfire came from. 

"We found shell casings that were going northbound on Haskell around that area where they fired towards the home on Hay," said Kristin Lowman with the Dallas Police Dept. "So we're looking for anybody who may have been in that area around that time and may have seen something, we're looking for a suspect description. We're looking for a suspect description of the car." 

A woman at the gathering was also shot. Police say she is in critical condition. 

"What detectives have determined is it was not random," Lowman said. The individuals, the woman and the child who were hit, were not the intended target, but this was not a random drive-by."

"Do not shoot up in no innocent crowds. Do not shoot up in no houses. That’s stupid because you're not hitting the person that you're going after. You hitting innocent bystanders," Harper-Smith said. "My grandbaby ain't your target. Why did she have to die? Like why would you shoot a 2-year-old because you going after a grown person or a person that think they grown."

Heartbroken grandmothers are begging for someone to say something.

"Somebody out there somewhere knows something. We are hurting her name is Zyah. It means ray of light, and she was a light to our family," said Lisa Smith, Zyah’s maternal grandmother. "If you know something, say something. Stop playing with these guns. They are not toys."      

So far, there is no motive or description of the suspect and vehicle involved.

Dallas Police Det. Guy Curtis is the lead homicide detective on this tragic case. His number is (214) 671- 3633, and his email is guy.curtis@dallaspolice.gov.