NFL Star Pledges Playoff Game Check to Family of Slain 7-Year-Old Girl

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(CBS News) -- Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins has pledged to donate his football playoff game check to the family of Jazmine Barnes, a 7-year-old girl who was fatally shot while riding in a car with her mother and three sisters Sunday morning.

Authorities are searching for a white man with a beard who was driving a red, four-door pickup captured on surveillance video shortly before the shooting. They said driver of the pickup pulled alongside the family's car in a Walmart parking lot on the eastern outskirts of Houston and fired inside.

When I see Jazmine Barnes' face, I see my own daughter. I'm pledging my playoff check this week to help her family with funeral costs and to support @shaunking @SherriffED_HCSO @SylvesterTurner in bringing this man to justice. On Saturday, I will be playing in your honor, Jazmine pic.twitter.com/oCRYSgfGO9

— Deandre Hopkins (@DeAndreHopkins) January 3, 2019

Jazmine died at the scene and her mother, LaPorsha Washington, suffered a gunshot wound to the arm. Investigators said it appeared to be an unprovoked attack.

Hopkins tweeted on Thursday that he would offer up his check this week to help her family with funeral costs and to support efforts to bring the girl's killer to justice.

"When I see Jazmine Barnes' face, I see my own daughter," Hopkins tweeted.

ESPN reports the check is worth $29,000. Hopkins also said that he would dedicate his game on Saturday, when the Texans will play the Indianapolis Colts, to Jazmine.

Civil Rights attorney Lee Merritt and activist Shaun King have raised a $100,000 reward for information leading police to the girl's killer. 

First published on January 3, 2019