12-year-old going for snacks is killed by police car heading to fire, Iowa cops say

A 12-year-old Iowa girl was on her way to the store to buy snacks when she was hit and killed by a police cruiser heading to the scene of an apartment fire, news outlets report.

Vana Marie Redd, of Red Oak, planned to use a gift card she got for Christmas to make the purchases, the Associated Press reported.

It was about 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 10 when Vana was struck while crossing the street, according to an Iowa State Patrol crash report. Behind the wheel of the cruiser, a 22-year-old officer was driving to a fire with lights and sirens on, when the girl “ran into the roadway,” the crash report said.

Vana moved to Red Oak only six months ago, her uncle, James Shirley, told KMTV. Her mother had died a couple years ago and so Vana was living with Shirley and his wife, Melissa, he said.

“She’d been through a lot. We wanted to really give her a chance at a good life, a normal life as a child, to grow up and … to make her mark on the world,” Shirley told the TV station. “She didn’t get her full opportunity to do so.”

The Shirleys questioned whether the fire was “a big enough deal to take someone’s life,” KMTV reported.

The officer, Reece Anderson, also of Red Oak, has been put on leave while the ISP investigates, the Associated Press reported.

The crash report does not say how fast the officer was driving at the time of the collision.

Besides her aunt and uncle, Vana leaves behind an older sister and younger brother, according to KMTV.

“She’s with her mom in heaven,” Melissa Shirley told the outlet.

Red Oaks is a town in southwest Iowa, about 50 miles from Omaha, Nebraska.

This story was originally published January 12, 2022 at 5:25 PM with the headline "12-year-old going for snacks is killed by police car heading to fire, Iowa cops say."