12-year old Pennsylvania girl shot in hip by stray bullet

Tahtiana Diggs, age 12

12-year old Tahtiana Diggs was getting into a vehicle when a fight erupted on the street not far away.  The two men pulled out guns and started firing at one another.  One of those bullets hit Tahtiana in the hip.

Two suspects are in custody.

From an article:

Police say 12-year-old Tahtiana Diggs was struck by a stray bullet at around 2:30 p.m. following a heated argument between the two men concerning drugs on the block.

"An idiot takes out a gun, starts firing. A child getting into a car gets hit in the hip," Chief Smythe said.

Armed with assault rifles, police stormed the row home where the suspects were believed to be in, but the house was empty.

It appeared the occupants fled in such a hurry that they left the TV on and food cooking on the stove.

Two pit bull dogs were removed from the home by animal control for safe keeping.

Police say the incident began when one neighbor severely beat up another neighbor. A friend of the man who was attacked then ran home and came back with a gun and started firing.

Police say the 12-year-old was struck as she was getting into a minivan to go to a holiday barbecue with her grandfather.

"Society today is going to hell right quick in a [handbasket]," Leslie Baker, the victim's grandfather, said.

Baker says all he remembers is his granddaughter screaming after being struck.

"She was crying because she felt the sting of the bullet. So when they fired the second shot, I looked up to see what was going on, I told her to get on the ground," Baker said.

Tahtiana was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia where she underwent surgery.

Action News is told the 12-year-old will have to wear a colostomy bag for 6 to 8 weeks.

Baker says his grandchildren had moved from Philadelphia to escape this kind of violence.

"They came out here not to be in this environment from Philadelphia, but the environment is everywhere," Baker said.

Bullets don't know when to stop.