"We're empty without her": Family of girl killed during high-speed chase grieves, demands answers
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. – Family of 6-year-old Blessings McLurain-Gray says she was a binding force that brought each of them together.
McLurain-Gray was killed when murder suspect Hakeem Muhammad crashed into her family's car while running from police Friday evening.
The crash happened at the four-way stop intersection at 53rd and Humboldt avenues – a residential area along the border of Brooklyn Center and Minneapolis. There is no confirmation of how fast Muhammad was going when he struck the unsuspecting vehicle, but Brooklyn Center Police Chief Kellace McDaniel says at times, Muhammad was going 70 miles an hour through residential streets.
McLurain-Gray was in the car with three other young family members as well as her aunt April McHerron, who was driving. The family was returning from a day at the pool and was just blocks from home.
"I stopped at the stop sign. I looked and there were no cars," McHerron said. "Then I just see a car, and it was too late after that. (We were sent) flying."
McHerron says the SUV she was driving flipped several times before landing on its roof.
"Instantly when I woke up and realized we were upside down, I tried to reach over and unsnap my niece's seatbelt, I couldn't. I unsnapped mine and just got out," she said. "Had I known there was a chase, I would've been sitting at that stop sign and we wouldn't be sitting here."
McHerron says she never heard a siren.
It took roughly a dozen minutes, the family says, for first responders to begin providing them lifesaving efforts.
Six-year-old McLurain-Gray was taken to the hospital, where she later died.
Family says "joyful" Blessings embodied her name
Cortel Gray says his daughter beat the odds before she was even born.
Blessings had Turner Syndrome, a disorder in which a female is born with only one X chromosome.
"(Doctors) really tried to get us to abort her," Gray said. "They told us every time we'd come back there was a 99.9% chance that my daughter wouldn't be breathing again on the next visit."
Gray, along with Blessings' mother Diane McLaurin, chose to push on regardless. When Blessings was born, she required immediate surgeries to keep her alive. Even as she aged, her disorder meant she looked significantly younger than she was – leading first responders to initially identify her as only 2 years old.
Her parents say despite the adversities she faced growing up, Blessings was a constant light in their lives and the lives of others.
"She was joyful," Gray said. "She wanted to see everybody else happy."
"She doesn't even have to say anything," McHerron said. "You see her, you're instantly going to fall in love with her."
McHerron says the entire family is struggling to come to terms with her loss.
"You can feel the emptiness without her presence, without her being around. You know she's not there," she said. "We're empty without her. We'll never be the same."
Grief is mixed with anger and frustration for Blessings' family
Each of the five passengers in April McHerron's SUV, including herself, required medical attention after they were hit.
Another of her nieces, 15-year-old Lanay Bell-King, is still hospitalized with cuts to her kidney and liver, internal bleeding, and a punctured lung.
As Bell-King recovers, the family says they're putting the blame both on Muhammad, who ran, and the police who continued chasing him. McHerron says she forgives Muhammad for what he did. Blessings' father Cortel Gray does not.
The family says police from Brooklyn Center have made no attempt to reach out and contact them.
"Why didn't they call that chase off?" said Cozetta Jones, Blessings' grandmother. "If they would have called it off, none of this would have happened."
"Something needs to change," Gray said. "Everyone needs to be held accountable. Everybody. Him, the police, the city, the state, because they're the one making the law."
