Man to be charged in fatal shooting of Washington state 1-year-old

By Eric M. Johnson

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Police in Washington state said on Monday they will charge an alleged gang member with murder over the fatal drive-by shooting of a 1-year-old girl in April.

Demartrae Kime, 25, will be charged with killing the child, Malijha Grant, and with two counts of assault for targeting her parents in the shooting, the Kent Police Department said in a statement.

Police in Kent, some 20 miles south of Seattle, said Kime fired on the family's vehicle because he believed the father was associated with a rival street gang that was blamed for the murder of his friend, a fellow gang member.

"As a result of this ill-conceived gang retaliation, one of the eight bullets fired at (the) car struck 1-year-old baby Malijha in the head and resulted in her subsequent death," police said.

Police said Kime had a criminal history dating back eight years, including assault and robbery convictions and said he is currently in federal custody on unrelated charges of illegal firearm possession.

Mohammad Ali Hamoudi, a federal public defender representing Kime in the firearms case, could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday.

The child was strapped into a car seat in the back of her parents' vehicle when another car pulled up and Kime, and possibly other occupants, opened fire and sped off, police said.

The baby was struck in the head and rushed to a hospital, according to police. She was pronounced brain dead and was removed from life support days later.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Writing by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Leslie Adler)