(WWJ) The reward has been upped to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest in the murder of an 18-year-old nursing student in Detroit.
Family members are pleading for tips in the case of Tikiya Allen, who was fatally shot while riding her bike outside a friend's house in the area of Pingree St. and Linwood last week.
"My daughter was a good girl, good grades, going to school...gave me and her mother no problems at all," said Allen's father Timothy Allen. "As a matter of fact, we're probably guilty of spoiling her. But she didn't deserve this, and the people that did this to her...they need to come to justice."
Interim Detroit Police Chief James White told reporters that the teenager was "not the intended target" of the shooting, that also wounded a 20-year-old man the afternoon of Wednesday, July 21.
Police are still looking the person or persons who fired shots from a red Ford Taurus. There were believed to be three or four men in the vehicle, which sped away after the shooting.
"I implore, that if you know something about this car, this situation that happened to my daughter, my beautiful daughter, call Crime Stoppers, let them know," the victim's father added. "We have to stop this. This is just too much; it's getting too bad out here."
Speaking at a news conference Monday, Asst. Chief Todd Bettison asked activists groups in the community to step up and help.
"It's time to get to work, let's activate," Bettison said. "Let's use our influence to reach out to people, to touch their hearts, to activate them to look for this red car. Somebody knows exactly who was driving that car; it's very destinctive"
"More than likely the person who was driving that car knows we're looking for it and they put it up," he said. "So if you know somebody that has a read Taurus and you haven't seen it in a minute...make that phone call the Crime Stoppers."
Anyone who knows anything about this shooting should call the Crime Stoppers tip line at 1-800-Speak Up (1-800-773-2587). Callers will remain 100% anonymous, and will not be required to speak to police or to testify in court.
All rewards through Crime Stoppers are paid anonymously upon an arrest in the case.