Somali Girl Killed, Brother Injured By Car

INDIANAPOLIS -- A 9-year-old Somali refugee was killed and her teenage brother was seriously injured when a car struck them on Indianapolis' north side Tuesday, police said.

Police said the car's driver might have fallen asleep at the wheel when the vehicle, going south on Central Avenue, crossed the centerline and struck the children in the northbound lane near 46th Street shortly before 5 p.m.

The siblings -- Somali refugees who had been living in Kenya but moved to Indianapolis on March 21 -- were either playing with a bicycle or walking across a street toward the bike when they were struck, police said.

The girl, Shukri Mohamed Ibrahim, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her brother, Hassan Mohamed Ibrahim, 14, was taken to Methodist Hospital in critical condition, according to police.

Police said the car's driver, a 42-year-old woman, told investigators that she believed she fell asleep shortly before the vehicle struck the children.

No charges were filed in connection with the incident, police said.

The children's family has been staying in the 4700 block of Central Avenue, not far from where the car struck the kids, police said.

"They heard the crashing noise and came out and saw the aftermath. They're very distraught right now," Indianapolis police Lt. Doug Scheffel said.

A witness, M.L. Coleman, said the kids' mother saw the incident while standing on a porch.

"(She) saw the whole thing, and then she came to the scene and saw them probably before the police got there," Coleman said.

Police initially told the news media that the girl who died was a boy. They said the error happened because they had difficulty communicating with the child's relatives, who don't speak English.