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RACINE, Wis. (AP) – Police said Friday that they have a 14-year-old boy who was being sought as a “person of interest” in the fatal shooting of a teenage Racine girl.
Police identified the victim as Vista Jackson, also 14. Jackson was a freshman at Horlick High School in Racine who loved to sing, her aunt, Rhonda Jackson, told The Journal Times.
“She wanted everyone to love her,” said Rhonda Jackson, who lived below her niece in a duplex and called her “Chops” because of her big smile. “She friended the wrong people.”
“The little girl was a very sweet little girl. I used to speak to her every day. It’s just sad,” said Tara White, 42, who lives next to the house where the shooting happened.
Officers were dispatched to a residence for a report of a girl suffering from a gunshot wound around 8:20 p.m. Thursday, the Racine Police Department said. According to police, she was taken to a hospital before being airlifted to Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee, where she was later pronounced dead.
Police were seeking a 14-year-old boy for questioning and said they found him during a traffic stop Friday evening. He was taken to the Racine Police Department, and police said the investigation was ongoing.
An autopsy was ordered for the girl and will be conducted by the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office, Racine County Medical Examiner Michael Payne said.