NEW ORLEANS — It happened in a matter of seconds, in a place they never intended to be.
Twelve-year-old Todriana Peters and her cousin, Brione Rodgers, 18, were at a party in the Lower 9th Ward on Sunday night and ready to go home.
But Rodgers wanted to call her grandmother to let her know she and Todriana were headed home.
Rodgers and Todriana stopped at another party happening nearby in the 500 block of Delery Street to see Rodgers’ brother so she could charge her phone.
“We were at that party for maybe five, 10 minutes,” Rodgers said Tuesday. “And that happened. We were just going to charge my phone.”
A car rounded the corner from Chartres Street around 10:30 p.m.
Neighbors and an eyewitness said at least one man opened fire.
The car sped away, but Todriana was hit in the crossfire. Two other men -- ages 18 and 19 -- were also injured.
A woman who was at the party rushed to scoop up Todriana from the street where she lay bleeding and brought her inside.
That woman, who didn’t want to be identified, tied a towel around the girl’s leg and had someone else apply pressure to a wound on her head.
Despite those efforts, Todriana died at the hospital a short time later.
On Tuesday, her family and those who knew her remembered her as an outspoken girl who loved fashion and dancing. She graduated last week from sixth grade at Schaumburg Elementary in New Orleans East.
Maurice McMorris, the school's principal, said he knew Todriana since she enrolled at Schaumburg six years ago.
“We were really looking forward to her being in middle school ...in 7th grade,” he said.
He said that he got the news of her death while driving and had to pull over to compose himself when he learned what happened.
Her death, he said, is a problem that’s far too common in the city.
“She was a kid being a kid. She unfortunately was a victim of what's happening far too often in the city of young people being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said.
Two days after Todriana’s death, her family was planning her funeral.
Her cousin, who was with her when the shooting happened, had a surprising message for the person -- or people -- responsible for Todriana’s death.
“I forgive them,” she said. “Even though they took away someone I love, I forgive them.”
Times-Picayune|New Orleans Advocate staff writers Ramon Antonio Vargas and Gabriella Killett contributed to this report.