Ajahliyah Hashim

On the evening of August 29, 2023, Ajahliyah Hashim, a 6-year-old Black girl, was inside the living room of her Orlando, Florida, home with her mother. Ajahliyah was a student at Eagle’s Nest Elementary School, and her superintendent later said that students should not have to live in a world where their lives are in danger in their own neighborhoods.

Around 8:20 p.m., a car drove down the 1100 block of Poppy Avenue in the Carver Shores neighborhood and opened fire on the family’s home. Both Ajahliyah and her mother were struck by the gunfire. Ajahliyah was hit in the head and rushed to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children with critical injuries. Her mother was taken to Orlando Health with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds to both of her legs. A third person, 19-year-old Isaiyah Wright, was also killed in the shooting; he was dropped off at Health Central Hospital in Ocoee, where he was pronounced dead. Two days after the shooting, on Thursday, August 31, 2023, Ajahliyah died from her injuries.

The Orlando Police Department investigated the incident and determined that the shooting was the result of a gang dispute. Investigators said the conflict, between a group known as the 438 gang and another called the Carver Shores boys, had escalated from arguments on social media. In what police described as a tragic mistake, the shooters targeted the wrong house. Authorities confirmed that Ajahliyah and her mother were not the intended targets.

Within weeks, five suspects were arrested in connection with the double homicide. They were identified as Nico Brown, 15; Kny Adams, 17; Brandon James Pickett, 17; Ricky Raymond Bowery Jr., 18; and Tyrik Omari Nichols, 21. The juvenile suspects were slated to be charged as adults, and all five faced homicide charges.

In April 2025, Ricky Bowery Jr., then 20, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree murder. A judge sentenced him to 25 years in prison for his role in the shooting. As of that month, court hearings for the four remaining co-defendants were scheduled for May 2025.