Police Seeking Driver That Killed Girl, 7, In North Jersey Hit-And-Run: Authorities

Police are seeking the driver who fatally struck a 7-year-old N.J. girl in a hit-and-run while she was walking to school Monday morning, authorities said. The girl’s mother was also injured.

Shayla Pichardo, a student at P.S. 1 in West New York, was walking to school with her mother around 8:20 a.m. when they were both struck at the intersection of 61st Street and Van Buren Place, according to the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.

The car was described as a large black Chevrolet Tahoe.

The girl was taken to Palisades Medical Center after the crash and was later pronounced dead. The girl’s mother was seriously injured, but her status was unclear, according to the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.

Police officers were at the scene after the hit-and-run, and a small memorial shrine has been set up for the child.

After the crash, witnesses said, someone got out of the passenger side, looked at what happened, and got back into the vehicle before it sped away, CBS2’s Lou Young reported.

“If somebody saw something, whatever clue that you have, whatever that you saw please let us know because they cannot find the guy,” family friend Paula Osario told the station.