Family of girl killed in S.F. urges driver to come forward

A photo released by the San Francisco Police Department shows a vehicle that allegedly struck and killed 2-year-old Mi'Yana Gregory on Friday, Aug. 15, 2014 in the South of Market area of San Francisco. The vehicle is described as a white, mid-90s four-door sedan; either a Camry, Honda, or Lexus with a dark colored mismatched front bumper and dark or black rims. less A photo released by the San Francisco Police Department shows a vehicle that allegedly struck and killed 2-year-old Mi'Yana Gregory on Friday, Aug. 15, 2014 in the South of Market area of San Francisco. The ... more Photo: SFPD Photo: SFPD Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Family of girl killed in S.F. urges driver to come forward 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

The family of a 2-year-old girl struck and killed in a downtown San Francisco crosswalk pleaded Sunday with the hit-and-run driver who took her life to turn himself in.

Mi'yana Gregory died Friday night after a white car hit her on Mission Street, in a crosswalk outside the San Francisco Centre mall. Mi'yana, her twin brother, Michael, and an aunt had spent the evening watching a movie inside.

Although a security camera caught images of the white sedan speeding away, San Francisco police had not made any arrests in the case by Sunday night.

"You know you hit something," Cynthia Johnson, 59, the girl's great-grandmother, said at a vigil organized by the family Sunday. "Why do you not bring yourself forward and give this mom some closure?"

The girl's 20-year-old mother, Shonece Rodgers, sobbed nearby in the arms of a relative, at one point wailing, "Why did my baby die?"

Johnson and other family members urged anyone who recognized the car, which has a mismatched dark bumper and dark rims, to call police.

"You see what he did?" Johnson said, gesturing to Rodgers. "How do you regroup from this? You don't!"

Mi'yana was struck at 10:37 p.m. Friday in the crosswalk midway between Fourth and Fifth streets in the South of Market neighborhood. The crosswalk has its own traffic light to stop cars on the busy stretch of Mission, and family members said Mi'yana, her brother and aunt had the light as they crossed the street, heading toward a parking garage opposite the mall.

On Sunday afternoon, the base of that traffic light became a small shrine of clustered candles and teddy bears. Pictures held by the family showed a beaming girl with braided hair, known to relatives as "My My."

"She was the sweetest little thing," said her father, Michael Gregory, 20. "She liked to dance. She liked 'Sesame Street.' She had a smile that could light up a room."

As he spoke, he held Mi'yana's twin brother, Michael Gregory Jr. "He woke up this morning and asked, 'Where's My My?' " the father said.

Police have described the vehicle that hit Mi'yana as a four-door sedan from the 1990s, possibly a Toyota, Honda or Lexus. Anyone with information about the incident, the car or the driver is urged to contact the San Francisco Police Department's anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444.