LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) -- Today marks a year since the officer-involved shooting on South General Marshall Street that claimed the life of 19-month-old Kaci G. Cyprian.
In a statement, Jowanna Washington, the mother of the 19-month-old child, mentioned how the incident was a ‘tragedy and a failure by all accounts.’ Washington mentioned how her daughter lost her life. Her now five-year-old son who is also autistic was shot in his dominant hand causing permanent disability and PTSD. Also, Washington mentioned her aunt was shot along with several Lafayette police officers and the suspect.
"It's a lot on us," Washington said. "You don't have time to cry. You don't have time to grieve. It's a year now and I feel like I'm just now beginning to be able to grieve.”
Washington said had been silent but is now speaking out since it has been a difficult battle to get answers and transparency in her daughter’s death.
“I was silent because we were doing everything the right way," Washington said. "We wanted to handle our baby's legacy as gracefully as she was, as beautiful as she was. So, we didn't say anything. We didn't want to cause an uproar. We didn't want to disrupt the case. We didn't want to hinder any investigation. So, we were just letting the lawyer do his job.”
However, on July 19, the mother explained she received an email from her lawyer stating that he wasn't getting any information. To pursue anything, he would need to get certain information in which she said FOIA requests submitted to the police department were partially denied and then matters got to a point where the family wasn’t getting any information.
“We were on a crunch time," Washington said. "So, it caused us to have to go and type our documents, push through, do a lot of research, and just file it on our own and pay those court costs on our own. It's so important to get that body cam footage because it will validate our statements and it will give the public an opportunity to see what happened beyond the narrative that's being pushed in the media or our narrative that people may not believe.”
Washington’s aunt's house is covered with lasting impressions of bullets.
“The carnage, it looked like a war zone," Washington said. "It was very sick. A war zone, blood everywhere, things scattered and torn.”
Nicole Thomas, the aunt of the 19-month-old girl, recalled being outside and asking police what was going on, but she said she was told to back up.
“I told them the kids were in the house,” Thomas said. “I just want justice for my family, but mostly for my niece that's deceased. I feel like it could have been a better way to handle the situation, and we just need to get to the bottom of it. Justice for Kaci.”
As bullet holes have now been patched up, a mother cries as all she has left are her daughter’s ashes.
“I haven't held my baby physically in my arms for this long," Washington said. "This is all we have left and today I want to cry but my anger has overshadowed the pain because it's enough. 365 days and y'all still investigating the murder that y'all got somebody indicted for,” Washington said.
Trenton Cyprian who is the father of the 19-month-old girl said his son recalls the shooting and it is difficult for the family to answer questions when he asks about his sister. He shares how even his oldest daughter is having trouble with school as she was close to his 19-month-old daughter.
“What if it was your child, what if it was your baby," Cyprian said. "Just visually imagine somebody walking up to your house, shooting it up, and shooting your baby in the head, blowing your baby's brains out. Y'all can't imagine that, right? That's sick. It's unimaginable. This is what we live through every single day. I've had to Google 'Does it hurt to get shot in the head?'."
"I had to Google how it feels to get shot to give me peace of mind that she wasn't in pain or she didn't die in pain and then she got shot twice to the point where me and Tre [the father] were like man, we only wish it was in the arm," Washington said. "That's crazy how you have to wish that it was different when there shouldn't have been no shots in her body, no bullet in her body."
Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office public information officer Valerie Ponseti sent a statement about the release of the police body camera footage: “The video is being used in conjunction with the prosecution of a crime and will not be released until the case has been fully adjudicated.”
The family has set up a GoFundMe account to raise money in hopes of getting a new attorney.
John Nicholas was arrested and is facing multiple charges including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, domestic abuse, false imprisonment, and possession of a firearm. According to public records his case is set for trial on December 2nd. The family has filed a civil suit against the Lafayette police officers involved.
