A Dallas grandfather is expressing grief and anger following the shooting death of his six-year-old granddaughter whose death is blamed on a gun left unsecured in an Old East Dallas home.
It is the second tragedy the family has endured in the New Year involving separate acts of gun violence.
"It's a nightmare. We're living in a nightmare right now," said the victim's grandfather Michael Key. "Dealing with the loss of two grandbabies back-to-back. It's hard right now, especially this little one. This was my heart."
Key spoke with NBC 5 outside of the townhouse where his beloved granddaughter Aylayna Lee Key Rider Ross died Wednesday afternoon.
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"She was a good child," he said. "Very sweet, very smart, highly intelligent. She just taught me how to do TikTok."
He says Aylayna still had unopened gifts from Christmas and her sixth birthday on December 27.
She loved McDonald's and shopping at the Dollar Tree. She liked playing 'doctor' and was named after several family members.
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The kindergartner died in a shooting Wednesday afternoon in her Fitzhugh Avenue home.
Dallas police arrested Damariya Sowels, 19, in the girl's death.
Sowels is charged with tampering with evidence and is being held on three outstanding warrants for unrelated cases involving evading and unlawful carrying of a weapon, according to DPD.
Sowels, Key says, is his grandson's friend.
According to an arrest affidavit, police took Sowels to the Children Advocacy Center as a witness to the shooting.
During the interview, Sowels allegedly confessed to bringing two firearms into the home and placing a 'Mac 10' on top of a PlayStation in a room on the third floor of the townhome.
Police are not yet revealing exactly how the child was shot, whether she got a hold of the gun or another person in the home did.
There were two minors and two adults at home at the time of the shooting, according to police.
"I don't know anything about that gun," said Key. "I didn't know there was a gun in this house and that's what I'm so upset about. If there was a gun in this house, it should have been put up in a safe location where she couldn't reach it."
Following the shooting, Sowels is accused of taking the gun and concealing it in his backpack along with a 'Glock 40' and then hiding the backpack in the garage where crime scene investigators later found it.
Tragically, as the little girl lay shot, her mother was at a funeral home preparing her 14-year-old son's funeral.
"My daughter was out at Golden Gate Funeral Home getting my 14-year-old grandson dressed for a burial we're going to have Saturday," said Key. "She got a call from one of the kids here and she dropped everything and flew here."
Ah'bralen Rider, 14, died after he was found shot near Harry Hines and Oak Lawn on December 29, according to police.
Another 14-year-old with him survived the shooting and police arrested a 16-year-old suspect.
Key says his daughter is struggling to cope with the loss of two of her six children within days of each other.
"She is a nervous wreck," he said. "She's hurting and I've been trying to console her the best I can."
The family is also scrambling to make funeral arrangements for a second child.
Key says he would like both of his grandkids to have a joint funeral at a later date, but final decisions have not been made.
He believes the person who left the gun where a child could reach it is the only person to blame in this tragedy.
"When I think about it, it shouldn't have been an accident because no gun should've been in this house and no gun should've been in the sight of a six-year-old child," he said.
This was pure negligence, he added.
"I want everyone to make sure that if you got young kids in the house, secure the gun. Do not have loaded weapons laying around where a 5, 6-year-old, 12-year-old can get to it," said Key. "There's enough crime now. Be responsible for your kids… because tragedy is right around the corner."
