DC police chief leads prayer walk for 3-year-old shot, killed in Southeast

WASHINGTON - On Tuesday at 6 p.m., there was a prayer walk in D.C. to honor the life of a 3-year-old who lost her life to gun violence. Ty’ah Settles was shot and killed Friday night.

Church leaders and neighbors joined forces, singing, chanting, giving speeches, and sharing prayers like, "We come, Lord, sick of being sick, tired of being tired."

Ty’ah was shot and killed in our nation’s capital on Friday, May 3, while in a car on her way to dinner with her mother, father, and 8-year-old brother. The senseless tragedy happened on Hartford Street in Southeast just after 9 pm.

D.C. Police Chief Pamela A. Smith and the department’s Faith Advisory Council walked from the 7th District Station to the crime scene to pay their respects at Ty’ah’s growing memorial.

"We all got to come together as a community to have these young people and adults put these guns down. This is such an unfortunate incident, and we shouldn’t be standing here today, but because someone… it was troubling for me," said Smith.

Fox 5’s Sierra Fox questioned Chief Smith about how it will be decided which homicide victims get a prayer walk.

"I don’t think there’s a decision made on that," Chief Smith said. "The Faith Advisory Council was contacted by members of the community, and we wanted to do something collectively. The clergy in this community wanted to do something and when they want to do something, and they reach out to us, we’re going to be right there to support them."

So far this year, there have been more than 60 homicides in the district all while the city continues to grapple with how to put an end to the violence.

"The reason why we’re doing this today is certainly to show the family how much we love them and support them and how we’re going to rally around them, because as you know, if you’ve lost anybody in your family, such as I have, you know what happens once the services are over and everybody goes away. It gets real quiet, it gets real dark," Smith said.

Fox 5’s Sierra Fox asked the Chief: "You said you’re out here because you care, do you think the Mayor needs to be out here?"

"The mayor cares as well," she replied.

Ty’ah's killer or killers are still on the run. There is a $50,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest and conviction.