2-YEAR-OLD GIRL IN CRITICAL CONDITION

A 2-year-old girl was in critical condition Monday after she was shot in the head Sunday night following a dispute between her mother and another driver.

The shooting of the girl, Laylah Washington, occurred on Kirby Parkway.

“It’s just hurting,” said 48-year-old Arlisa Smith, a relative of the family. “I just don’t understand. I wish they would just put the guns down.”

According to a police report, the child’s mother and another driver yelled at each other before the shooting. The mother said she was waiting for her sons to get off work at Subway in the 6700 block of Winchester where several cars were driving crazily on the lot.

A man in a Chevy Impala nearly hit her and she yelled out her window not to hit her car, said Memphis police spokesman Louis Brownlee. The driver yelled something back that she didn’t understand.

After her sons got into the car, she drove to Dollar General at 6760 Winchester, left the shopping center and did not realize the Impala was following her until she turned on Kirby Parkway, Brownlee said.

She reported hearing shots and she told her kids to get down, Brownlee said. They did not know the girl was shot until they reached Kirby and Birch Run. The mother drove to Fire Station 52 at 6675 Winchester in Hickory Hill for help.

Reached Monday, the girl’s mother, Leslie Washington, said she did not have a comment right now.

Smith described the 2-year-old girl as having a “beautiful little spirit.”

After the shooting, police were searching for a black Chevrolet Impala with four suspects inside. Police said about four shots were fired into the car. None of the other occupants were injured.