Ohio mom shot dead by stray 'road rage' bullet as she sat next to four-year-old daughter

A young Ohio mother died in front of her daughter after being struck by a stray bullet .

Jermea Lyle, 26, was sitting in the backseat of a car with her four-year-old daughter last weekend when she was shot. Her boyfriend, who was driving the car, said they were getting off Interstate 75 South at U.S. 35 westbound when he heard a popping noise, which police say was a gunshot fired at their car, Dayton 24/7 Now reported.

Her boyfriend, who was driving a friend to the airport, tried to get Lyle to a local hospital but she didn’t make it, dying in front of her little girl. "After the gunshot went off he began hearing his girlfriend screaming that she had been shot, and she was shot and passed away inside the motor vehicle with her four-year-old daughter in the backseat with her,” Major Brian Johns said.

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The driver's father, Jason Bates, Sr. said his son called him screaming as he tried to get her to the hospital. He said he is devastated and wants answers as to who did this. “My granddaughter lost her mom,” Bates said. “My son is broken.”

The driver says he remembers seeing a blue Chevy Impala and another white vehicle behind him around the time of the shooting. Police shut down the ramp and found a single bullet casing.

Police believe those two cars may have come off the highway and had possibly been involved in a road rage incident where someone fired a weapon. The tragic shooting was the 32nd homicide in Dayton this year, significantly up from 2023.

"If you know anything please give us a call. Please call Crime Stoppers. This lady lost her life in front of her little child,” Johns said Anyone with any information related to this incident is asked to call 937-333-1232 to speak to detectives.