DeAndre Hopkins donating playoff game check to family of slain 7-year-old
Texans WR DeAndre Hopkins announced Thursday that he would be donating this weekend’s game check to the family of Jazmine Barnes, a 7-year-old girl who was senselessly murdered while sitting in her family’s car near Houston area Walmart on Sunday. Jazmine’s family was on their way to get coffee when a red pick-up truck pulled aside them and tragically changed their lives forever.
The gunman approached the Barnes’ family car and opened fire, murdering Jazmine. Jazmine’s mother, LaPorsha Washington was also struck but survived. Jazmine’s three sisters were injured from shattered glass but also survived. The gunman immediately fled the scene.
Like so many in the Houston area and nationally, Hopkins was deeply saddened by this horrific event.
This is an incredible gesture by DeAndre Hopkins: https://t.co/AjUUAx3JfW
— Lindsay Jones (@bylindsayhjones) January 3, 2019
Author and activist Shaun King has offered a reward for an viable tips leading to the capture of the murderer. As of this writing, that reward was up to $100,000.
While dealing with pain and tragedy, Jazmine’s family has found the strength and courage to be proactive about finding the gunman.
“I just want anybody, whoever, out there that knows anything about the murder of my daughter, to just please step up as if it was your own,” an emotional Christopher Cevilla, Jazmine’s father told reporters on Monday. “Just put yourself in my shoes, in my family’s shoes.” Hopkins has done just that, as has the collective nation.
