A 5-year-old girl named Eliyanah Crisostomo was killed during a freeway shooting in Freemont, California, on Easter Weekend.
On April 8, Eliyanah was riding in her family’s car on Interstate-880, KRON 4 reports. They were on their way to a birthday dinner for Eliyanah’s grandmother in Milpitas. Around 6:45 p.m., a car pulled up alongside the family’s car and opened fire on the vehicle.
A bullet struck Eliyanah in the chest and killed her. Her other family members survived.
Authorities believe the incident was a gang shooting. According to CBS News, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has charged three suspects, ages 25, 27 and 29, with one count of murder.
California Highway Patrol Capt. Ezery Beauchamp said in a press conference that authorities do not believe that the family was affiliated with gang issues.
“We believe that they were just innocent victims,” he said, according to CBS News. “As them as a family going to a birthday party and that there was not a gang issue with them.”