MINNEAPOLIS— It’s been three years of pain and anger for a family still searching for answers after the loss of their daughter.
6-year-old Aniya Allen was shot and killed by a stray bullet near 36th and Penn Avenues North in north Minneapolis.
“I miss her smile, I miss her voice, I just miss having her around,” said Latonya Allen, Aniya’s grandmother.
Year after year, loved ones leave hugs and balloons with her photo. This year, city leaders are adding her name to street signs as a way to honor her.
“We thought it was a good thing, a kind gesture for them to think of her and remember her,” said KG Wilson, Allen’s grandfather and community activist.
During Thursday’s meeting of the Minneapolis City Council, Ward 4 Councilor LaTrisha Vetaw held back tears as she recalled the terrible day Allen was killed.
“This street is being renamed in her honor in hopes that someone will come forward and talk about what happened to that baby,” Vetaw said.
Wilson hopes this addition will bring justice to his family.
“We continue to want justice with this street. We hope that the memory or someone finds it in their heart to say, look wow, now that she has a street named after her, we need to be fair and come forward,” Wilson said.
A $180,000 reward has been offered for any information leading to the arrest and conviction in the shooting deaths of Aniya Allen and 10-year-old LaDavione Garrett Jr., who was shot just weeks before her.
12-year-old Trinity Ottoson-Smith was fatally shot two days before Allen. A Minneapolis man is serving more than 37 years in prison for her death.
