Girl, 7, on life support after deadly St. Louis shooting

ST. LOUIS – A relative says a 7-year-old girl who was wounded in a deadly shooting in St. Louis last week is brain dead and being kept on life support until her organs can be harvested.

The girl’s great-grandmother, Venita Griffin, said Monday that relatives have been visiting Deniya Irving and saying “goodbye.” Griffin says donating the girl’s organs would be “a blessing to someone.”

St. Louis Children’s Hospital spokeswoman Abby Wuellner says only that the girl is in critical condition Monday.

Deniya’s parents — 24-year-old Jessica Garth and her boyfriend, 27-year-old Derrick Irving — and another man died in the shooting Thursday.

Interim Police Chief Lawrence O’Toole is asking the community for help.

Griffin says it makes her “feel better” that “of all the crimes, everybody seems so concerned about this one.”