A 10-year-old girl was gunned down and killed by a bullet in a random drive-by shooting as she played in the street two days before her birthday party.

Tragic Rafaelly da Rocha Vieira was looking forward to her belated birthday bash on Saturday (28th January).

But while she was playing in the street in Sao Joao de Meriti, Brazil, on 25th January, she was struck in the chest by a stray bullet.

Civil Police said witnesses told them that the shots had been fired from a passing car.

Rafaelly was still alive when she was rushed to a local emergency unit, but went into cardiac arrest.

Medics frantically tried to save her life but to no avail.

Local man Luiz Claudio da Silva recalled: “On hearing the shots, her mother comes down shouting loudly, ‘My daughter, my daughter!’

“We saw that it was little Rafaelly who had been hit and was lying on the ground. We don’t know who the perpetrators of the shots were nor whom they were for.

“I know they went into a street with lots of children, we are not used to this. Shooting at random.”

And local woman Carolaine Esteves recounted: “The street was full, everyone was chatting, children were playing.

“Out of nowhere we heard the shots and the stampede, I saw her picking her up off the ground and carrying her in her arms.”

The next day, local residents staged a protest at the crime scene, setting fire to wooden crates and sofas and demanding justice.

Grieving uncle Carlos Henrique da Rocha said: “Rafaelly was a lively, cheerful child. Everyone saw that she respected the elderly, she was helpful.

“She loved playing, so much so that she was playing in the street at the time of the incident. She was a normal child, she still had everything to live for.

“She was happy because she was going to have her birthday party on Saturday.”

Civil Police are investigating the case and are reviewing CCTV footage to try to identify the gunmen.