ST. LOUIS – Thousands of dollars in reward money is being offered Tuesday morning for tips that lead to the arrest of whoever murdered a 7-year-old girl and her father in the Central West End Sunday.
Up to $30,000 is now being offered for the arrest of whoever committed this double murder. Police said there are still no suspects in this case. The two victims are identified as 7-year-old Dmyah Fleming and her father 27-year-old Darrion Rankin-Fleming.
There are now three large cash rewards for information leading to who murdered father and daughter.
Family members say Dmyah was a straight “A” student, loved her father dearly and that she was the center of Darrion’s life. Our Post-Dispatch partners report that Darrion was about to drop off Dmyah at her grandmother’s house when they were both shot while sitting in their car.
The shooting happened Sunday night around 8pm on Laclede Avenue near Sarah Street in the Central West End. People in the area say they heard several gunshots. Darrion Fleming was pronounced dead at the scene. Dmyah was rushed to a hospital where she died. Police believe Darrion Fleming knew the gunman and investigators don’t think this was a drive-by shooting.
“People who live in the Central West End are shaken by this and we all are willing to do something to help figure out who is responsible for this. We have stepped forward and doing our part ,” Jim Whyte, Executive Director Central West End Neighborhood Security, said .
Violent crime continues to plague the city. There were 262 murders in 2020, a jump from 194 in 2019. So far this year there have already been 17 murders in the city. That’s up from 13 at this point last year. We’re also told 132 children were shot in the city of St. Louis in 2020. 20 of them died.
CrimeStoppers is offering a reward of possibly up to $10,000 in this latest case; the City of St. Louis is offering $15,000 and the Central West End Neighborhood Security Initiative is contributing $5,000.
“ You have the ability to take a shooter off the streets that may go and commit another murder,” Lewis Reed, Board of Alderman President, said. “They may and go shoot and kill another child. A person who will go and shoot a child, they need to be taken off the streets and you have the power in your hands.”
If you have any information, you are asked to call CrimeStoppers at 866-371-TIPS. You can also email tips to CrimeStoppers at stlrcs.org or use the free “P3 Tips” app.
To help the family out with funeral expenses , a GoFundMe has been created. Click here to donate.