'That was my baby,' mother of 8-year-old girl shot outside home says

Jada Page would have turned 9 on Tuesday

MIAMI ā€“ Jada Page was a fun-loving, typical 8-year-old girl who spent much of her time playing on her iPad. Ā 

"She loved the movies. She was full of life, and her life was playing on the iPad," Jada's mother, Rosalind Brown, said. "This iPad was her life."Ā 

Those videos Jada created now serve as a lasting memory for a heartbroken mother, whose daughter was shot in the head Sunday. The family was on their way to the Ā movies with her parents when they stopped by the young girl's grandmother's house in northwest Miami-Dade County. Ā 

"She didn't want to get out of the car," Brown said, through tears. "I said, 'Get out of the car and go get your dad.' She didn't want to move, and I said, 'You heard me. Get out of the car.' And she had my phone, and I said, 'Give me my phone,' and she was like, 'I'm playing with it,' and I said, 'OK, go get your dad.'"Ā 

Jada, a fourth-grade student at Sea Castle Elementary, went inside the house to get her dad, and sat on the porch for a few minutes.Ā 

That's when a black vehicle pulled up and a man got out and began shooting.Ā 

JadaĀ died Tuesday at Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center after she'd been declared brain dead earlier in the week. Jada'sĀ father, James Page, 32, is in critical condition after he was shot in the upper torso. Ā 

"When the medical examiner called the reality set in," Brown said. "To them now she's just a body, but that was my baby."Ā 

Brown had taken to social media after the shooting, asking for prayers for her daughter.Ā 

"The doctors say there are miracles and there is reality. But God, I know you have the final say," she wrote.Ā 

On Tuesday, Brown continued to askĀ people to pray for her daughter.Ā 

"Somebody told me last night that it's things like this that make them not believe in God. But all I got left is my faith," Brown wrote on Facebook. "The doctors have up on my baby. Lord, I need the prayer warriors more than ever right now. I'm trustingĀ and believe that somehow, some way, she's gong to come out of this. Lord, I'm not ready to give her back."Ā 

On Wednesday, Brown remembered her daughter, who would have turned 9 on Tuesday, by looking at those cellphone videos.Ā 

"Some of the videos made me laugh because she's silly, everybody Ā knows that," Brown said. "Some of the videos make me cry."Ā 

Ā Brown said she gets emotional when she at looks at the uniforms and shoes her daughter didn't get to wear.Ā 

"All these things she was so excited about," Brown said.Ā 

Brown also has a message for the person who shot her daughter and husband.Ā 

"Whoever did this, you have family, too," Brown said. "Could you imagine if that was your niece, your cousin, your something? Put yourself in our shoes. No matter how mad you are at somebody, do the youngĀ peopleĀ and their family deserve it? There is no way you can think that's OK."Ā 

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. A $25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest.Ā 


About the Author:

Five-time Emmy Award-winning newscaster Calvin Hughes anchors WPLG-Local 10's 4, 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts.