11-year-old girl fatally shot 4 years after appearing in video praying for end to gun violence
An 11-year-old girl who was once featured in a video praying for an end to gun violence has died after being shot in Madison, Wisconsin.
Anisa Scott was riding in a car Tuesday morning when a shooter fired into the vehicle, striking her in the head. Police believe the driver of the car with Anisa in it was the intended target.
On Thursday, her family removed her from life support at 11:11 a.m., signifying the date the shooting occurred and her age.
In the wake of her death, an anti-gun violence video that she appeared in back in 2016 has received more than 30,000 views.
“I just want to go outside and play, like a 7-year-old is supposed to do. I don’t want to die,” Anisa said in the video. “They won’t stop killing. They won’t stop it. God, can you make it better?”
Rafael Ragland, a local filmmaker and father of Anisa’s 5-year-old half-sister Anija Ragland, said he filmed the video with then 7-year-old Anisa after she had just come back from a trip to Chicago with her mother and heard about all of the violence there.
“I’m so confused honestly because the same thing she was praying about, praying that it doesn’t happen to her, then it turns around and happens to her,” Ragland said. “It just devastates me.”
Two male suspects — one 16, the other 19 — have been arrested in Anisa’s death, Madison police said Friday.
The 19-year-old, Perion Carreon, was arrested Wednesday, while the 16-year-old, Andre Brown, was arrested Friday. Both are from Madison and were arrested on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide, both as a party to a crime.
If he’s charged with first-degree intentional homicide, Brown would be charged in adult court even though he is only 16. State law requires anyone 10 or older charged with first-degree intentional homicide to be charged as an adult.
Acting Police Chief Victor Wahl declined to go into detail about how the arrests were made, saying the investigation is continuing.
“There are lots of moving parts in a case like this, evidence, leads, that go into making the case that are still active, things to be done,” Wahl said. “So I’m not going to go into too much detail about what has connected us to these two at this point.”
He said the case has been a priority for the department’s investigators.
Police spokesman Joel DeSpain said when Carreon was arrested Wednesday he was driving a stolen car and had a gun in his waistband. DeSpain and Wahl declined to say whether the gun was related to the shooting of Anisa.
DeSpain also said surveillance video “played a key role in getting us to where we’re at,” along with community cooperation.
“I’d like to extend my condolences, and that of the entire Madison Police Department, to the family of Anisa, who suffered an unimaginable loss,” Wahl said. “I hope that the community continues to support them and that today’s arrests help their healing process in some small way.”
He also thanked community leaders for speaking out this week about gun violence, saying it was important to have a unified message.
Carreon faces tentative charges in several other cases in addition to Tuesday’s shooting. His arrest Wednesday was on a tentative first-degree reckless endangerment charge for another shooting in July. He is also alleged to have been involved in gunfire on Jackson Street, on Madison’s East Side, on July 5, and the June 11 robbery of a 51-year-old woman in the 200 block of North Thompson Drive on Madison’s Far East Side.
Dozens of friends, family members and supporters mourned Anisa’s death and released balloons Thursday over Brittingham Park at the moment she was due to be taken off life support.
Hundreds of people gathered Friday evening in Cannery Square in downtown Sun Prairie for a candlelight vigil to celebrate Anisa’s life.
Members of Anisa’s family addressed the crowd to say thank you to the community for supporting them. Classmates and friends of Anisa shared stories and memories as her young sisters cried and were comforted by their father.
Anisa’s mom, Ashley, addressed the crowd, thanking them for their support and love.
“I can only be strong because of y’all. I love her so much,” she said.
Attendees left notes of strength and messages of encouragement in a box to be shared with the family as dozens of paper lanterns were lit and released into the night sky.
Anisa’s family asked the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County to help make funeral arrangements for the 11-year-old.
On Friday, Amy Arenz, CEO of the Madison-based human resources consulting firm Concero, reached out to the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County to donate $10,000, which will cover funeral expenses to give Anisa the “going home celebration she deserves.”
Photo Credit: Photo, Handout