Reward offered in death of 3-year-old girl struck by stray bullet in East St. Louis

Calyia Elizabeth Stringer was struck by a stray bullet Sunday night at her father’s apartment at the Roosevelt Homes, 1328 North 44th Street.

The bullet hit her under the left eye. Her aunt said the family decided to donate her organs after doctors told them Calyia was brain-dead.

The St. Louis medical examiner’s office said Calyia was pronounced dead at 3:58 a.m. Tuesday at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital.

The housing authority’s public safety chief said people were shooting at each other around 9:30 p.m. Sunday at the Roosevelt Homes, outside the building where Calyia was shot.

Shots fired at a crowd of people outside Building 47 came from someone in a dark-colored sedan, police said. At least one person in the crowd returned fire.

It was in that exchange of gunfire that one of the bullets sailed to the second-floor apartment where Calyia was sleeping in bed, her aunt Mariesha Samuels said this week. Calyia’s father and grandmother were in the apartment but were not hurt, Samuels said.

East St. Louis police and the Illinois State Police are investigating the shooting but have not released a description of any suspects.

Calyia, an only child, was the daughter of Claudia Rowling and Curtis Stringer. Calyia lived with her mother in the 1400 block of Gay Avenue in East St. Louis but would spend weekends with her father.

The mother’s pastor, April Roby Bell, said family and friends are planning to meet at 6 p.m. today (Friday, Sept. 10) for a balloon release and candlelight vigil at Malcom Memorial Park, 185 West Trendley Avenue in East St. Louis.

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