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Everyone in Riverside Drive, New Haven, St Andrew, knew five-year-old Denique Salmon as a brilliant and inquisitive child.

Although she was still in kindergarten, she had her little eyes set on becoming a scientist and as such, was always watching science-oriented programmes on her tablet. Unfortunately, the youngster will never achieve her dream as she was killed by a stray bullet as she slept in her bed early yesterday morning.

Her mother Cary Salmon's voice was hoarse from crying as she sat with family members a short distance away from her house when THE WEEKEND STAR visited the community yesterday. The gloom was everywhere.

"Mi don't know how mi ago move on. 'Den Den' (her pet name for Denique) was a jovial and brilliant little girl. Everybody know her. She said she wanted to be a scientist and because of that she never use to watch the regular cartoons. Her father and I are photographers, so she knew how to take pictures. She didn't go school for a year but her teachers said they couldn't tell because of how she was brilliant," she said.

According to police reports, about 1 a.m. rival factions within the community were shooting at each other when a couple of rounds entered the home where the youngster was sleeping. Denique was later found suffering from a gunshot wound to her head. She was taken to the Kingston Public Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

"A God make her big sister wasn't on the bed with her because is the two of them mi would lose. The shot go straight through mi baby head. The shot go through a zinc, go through a next part, go in my house and go in mi baby head and exit through the house," Salmon said as her eyes filled up with tears.

Salmon said she and her older daughter were awake when the shooting started, but had no idea that one of the bullets had entered her dwelling.

"A mi 12-year-old say, 'Mommy Den Den sound like she a vomit'. When mi look mi see blood a come out a mi baby mouth and her eyes dem pulp out. She asleep, she never get a chance to wake. Mi baby don't even know how she dead or nothing," Salmon said. "It better mi did make she sleep with mi, mi baby would still be alive."

Head of St Andrew South Police Division Superintendent Kirk Ricketts said New Haven has been plagued with gang violence for a while.

"Even though we are not having a high frequency of murders, there continues to be reports of explosions. There is a gang problem in the space and there are at least two factions that have been going at it for a while. We understand that this incident could have stemmed from a stabbing incident that occurred at least two weeks ago," he said.

The senior cop said they have been following a few leads and have been getting support from the community.

"We have identified a number of persons that we believe would have been involved in the series of incidents and we have launched an operation right throughout the community and in others where we believe the migration of some of these individuals (is happening)," he said.