ST. LOUIS — "We planned it months ahead. Me, my sister and my cousin," said Shardae Edmondson.
Aug. 23, 2019, was supposed to be a night of fun for then 11 year old Shardae Edmondson, then 11, and her sisters, 7-year-old Zha-lea and 8-year-old Jurnee Thompson.
The girls were excited to attend a football jamboree at Soldan High School in the Academy neighborhood in north St. Louis.
"We all just wanted to go out and spend some time together," Shardae said.
But in a flash, a huge brawl involving at least 100 students first broke out during the football scrimmage, St. Louis police said.
They said about 30 minutes later, gunshots were fired near the high school.
Jurnee, just down the street with her sisters, was shot in her stomach.
The third-grader later died at a St. Louis hospital.
"We looked around, and I just saw Jurnee lying in a big pile of blood. It happened right before my eyes. Everybody was standing around her not knowing what happened," her sister recalled.
Two 16-year-old boys and a 64-year-old woman were also wounded during the shooting.
"My sister was a very helpful and caring person. I loved her so much," Shardae said.
"It's just really rough on all of us," said Jurnee's dad, Rasheed Thompson.
Nearly two years after losing his little girl, Thompson said he and Jurnee's sisters are still undergoing therapy.
"It's very frustrating. It's a life lost, and I feel like the matter is just getting swept under the rug," he said.
Police said nearly two years later, no one has been arrested in the case.
Jurnee's disappointed dad hopes that changes soon.
"I want more attention to be brought to my daughter's case than there has been. I'm now a single father raising two girls, and I won't stop until I get justice for Jurnee," said Thompson.
"The person who (shot Jurnee) took a part of me, and I could never really get that part back," said a sobbing Shardae.
Police said the case remains "open and active" and asked anyone with information to call CrimeStoppers at 866-371-TIPS.
