© Provided by Daily Mail MailOnline logo A seven-year-old boy was fatally shot while riding in a car with his mother, authorities in North Carolina said.
Authorities are still investigating whether it was a targeted attack, or an incident of road rage, as his mother has suggested.
The shooting happened around 11pm Wednesday in Hickory, police said.
Officers responding to a 911 call about a shooting into a vehicle arrived to find Zakylen Greylen Harris with an apparent gunshot wound, Hickory police said in a news release.
Authorities said a single shot was fired into the vehicle, striking Zakylen in the neck.
The child was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Hickory police said Zakylen was in the back seat with his two younger brothers, ages six and one, when the shooting occurred. Neither child was injured.
Police gave only a vague description of the suspect, describing the vehicle from which the shot came as a small, dark-colored SUV, possibly with multiple occupants.
Authorities said only that a white female with blonde hair was sitting in the front passenger seat of the SUV.
Zakylen’s mother told police that the female had screamed something at her that she didn’t understand before a passenger pulled out a gun and shot into her vehicle.
© Provided by Daily Mail ( © Provided by Daily Mail ( The victim’s mother also told investigators that she believes it was a road rage attack because she had unintentionally cut off the other vehicle.
‘This was a senseless act of violence. There’s no excuse for this,’ Hickory Police Chief Thurman Whisnant said during a news conference Thursday.
Authorities have not released a motive for the shooting, but they have recovered grainy footage from the scene.
In the video, the victim’s vehicle is seen turning at an intersection.
The suspect’s car is then seen chasing down the vehicle the victim was riding in before the shooting.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Hickory Police Department at 828-328-5551 or Inv. Tammy Johnson at [email protected].
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