Mother of young sisters killed in July 4 shooting speaks out

FORT WORTH, Texas – Relatives of the young sisters killed in a July 4 shooting in Fort Worth tell WFAA they have not slept since the tragedy.

The family is currently making funeral arrangements for 1-year-old Ivy Pierce and 4-year-old Wynter Thouston. Emergency room doctors pronounced the siblings dead before 1 a.m. Friday, nearly an hour after they were shot during a fireworks display.

Police arrested 26-year-old Kanard Murphy on a charge of felony assault against multiple persons. They say he shot five people, killing the two children and 42-year-old Terrell Winn.

“He took three innocent lives while people were outside enjoying the fireworks,” said the girls’ cousin, Brianna Mills. “From this moment on, our lives will never be the same. How are we even supposed to carry on?”

Mills and the girls’ parents met with other relatives in Fort Worth on Sunday before returning to Tyler for the funeral. Baby Wynter’s father was also injured in the shooting.

In tears, the girl’s mother told WFAA that she tried to perform CPR on her injured daughter.

“I couldn’t save my babies,” she cried. “Every time I close my eyes, I see their faces.”

Court records show the family was sitting in their car Thursday preparing to leave the fireworks display when the shots rang out.

An arrest warrant for Murphy states that he got into a fight with another show-goer. The two knew each other and had had previous altercations, police said.

Witnesses told authorities that Murphy sat down his own baby and took a gun from his car. According to the arrest warrant, the 26-year-old chased the victim through the car wash and fired shots.

According to court documents, the five people injured by Murphy were bystanders who had nothing to do with the fight. Mills said her family moved to Fort Worth from Tyler about a month ago and did not know Murphy.

“It’s hard for everyone, especially the parents,” she said. “It’s had a tremendously devastating impact on us.”

The family said the one-year-old had developed her personality and was “hanging on to her mom’s leg.”

The four-year-old loved swimming and playing with the iPad. She was “a bright spot in everyone’s life,” Mills said.

Relatives said the two were like heart and soul, sharing videos of the girls swimming, hugging and driving together.

The family is accepting donations for the girls’ funerals through this GoFundMe page.