A 3-year-old girl from Florida in the US has died after her father allegedly pulled out a gun and shot her twice, before taking his own life.
According to WearTV, 3-year-old Cherish Jackson was shot in the head by her father Terrance Jackson, outside her home just as he arrived to spend time with her as her parents were separated.
"Cherish ran out to the car crying, 'daddy, daddy,'" a witness who saw the incident unfold reportedly said. "She was all happy to see him."
People reported that, "Cherish's parents were separated and on Saturday afternoons Jackson would often pick his daughter up from her mother's home and walk with her to a nearby store". But on that Saturday, the 22-year-old father pulled out a gun and shot his own daughter.
"I know he said something to Cherish right before he shot her because I saw her look up at him," the neighbour, said to WearTV. "That image of her looking at him is etched into my mind forever."
Deputies with the Escambia County Sheriff's Office said the Cherish was transported to a local hospital in critical condition and the Terrance died from the self-sustained gunshot wound. Pensacola News Journal reported.
"He was just here on his daughter's birthday," a neighbour told the station. "He didn't have a gun then. I think he came over with this already planned. Why else would you bring a gun?
"She fought hard to stay here with us," Cherish's mother, Casey Scott, said at the night vigil they had for her daughter, according to the News Journal. "It just wasn't meant for her to be."
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