The shots rang out around 3am on Ponnel Lane near De Walt.
"Gunshots repeatedly," witness Chris Brown said. "Gunshot, gunshot, and that was it."
Houston police said a mother was driving down Ponnel around 3am with her daughter secured in the back seat.
Suddenly, her car was surrounded.
Police said two men wearing dark hoods ran toward her car. At least one of them was armed.
"There were two hooded males. One was seen with a long gun," HPD Sgt. Peg Jewell said. "They were on foot at first, then a black or dark blue SUV was traveling in that direction."
As the men approached her, an SUV drove up beside her and shots were fired. Police aren't sure if the shots came from the men on foot, the SUV or both.
"The baby was in a car seat, but the vehicle was shot at several times and the baby was the only one who sustained fatal injuries," Jewell said.
After the shots were fired, the suspects fled and the mother started driving. She made it about a block away and then stopped. Witnesses said she got her daughter out of the car and then fainted with the child in her arms.
Neighbors, who had heard the commotion, came running.
"She had fainted and the baby was lying there, and I grabbed the baby and took her into the house," neighbor Waverlon Malone said. "She was bleeding real badly on her back side."
Malone said the child was shot in the shoulder.
"The Lord was with that baby, I can say that. Because she didn't like cry like a gunshot wound like I would have," Malone said. "She didn't do none of that. She was strong; a strong girl."
The girl was transported to an area hospital. Doctors performed surgery, but she did not survive.
Her age was unclear Sunday evening, but police said she was younger than one year old. Neighbors told us she was eight months.
"A not even one-year-old child has been shot," neighbor Jon Richardson said. "It's a sad situation, and hopefully justice will be done."
Investigators are still looking at evidence at the scene to try to identify the suspects and determine whether the shooting was random or if the car was targeted. They said it may be a case where the mother and child were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The mother was not injured.
Anyone with information that could help investigators is urged to call police or Crime Stoppers.
Stay with Eyewitness News and abc13.com for updates.
