Sandra Gonzalez WGNO News

6:30 p.m. CST, December 19, 2011
NEW ORLEANS—

Fenesia Gordon could barely sleep. She tried to hug her daughter, 1 year old Keira Gordon, but the toddler wasn't there.

"She usually sleeps in the corner and realized what happened, because I usually hug her when she’s laying right there," Gordon said.

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The little girl who was just shy of two years old this week, was struck by a bullet, when a shooting happened Sunday outside the B.W. Cooper public housing apartments on Erato Sunday afternoon.

The child was the unintended target of a shooting, that police say left a young man wounded. Children were playing when the hail of gunfire erupted. Familymembers say the children were coming inside but it was too late.

"They were all coming, and Keira , she was coming as well, but when she was running, she fell hard to the ground," said Keshell Gordon, the child's aunt.

"I think it’s sad and I think it’s pitiful for you to pull up and you to see that they got a whole bunch of kids out here to open fire, knowin’ there are innocent helpless kids out here. I’m hurtin’. Words can’t even explain right now," said Dondrel Anderson, the toddler's uncle.

A makeshift memorial immediately started to grow with teddy bears and toys. People showed up with messages to stop the violence against innocent children.

Now the family has nothing but photos and videos of the child. And Keira's mother clings to her baby's favorite boots and teddy bear, the two things her child never could part with.

While they were planning her birthday party, now they're planning her funeral.

A fund has been set up Chase bank under the name of Fenesia Gordon. The account number is 3011195384 if you are interested in helping the family with funeral expenses. New Orleans actor Ameer Baraka, who was raised in the same neighborhood was the first to make a donation to the family.