Authorities say a 12-year-old girl riding a scooter in New Jersey is brain dead after being hit in the head by a stray bullet.

Paterson police believe the shooter was aiming at someone else when they hit Genesis Rincon on Rosa Parks Boulevard around 8:40 p.m. Saturday. Two other children who were with her were not injured.

Authorities say Rincon had left a family gathering to go to a nearby store with another girl and a boy, but the store was closed so they headed back to the gathering. They were taking turns riding the scooter and were about a block away from the gathering when multiple shots rang out.

Rincon's family said they are heartbroken by their daughter's shooting but are preparing to donate her organs in the hope they can help others.

"Tomorrow, she's not going to be here," her father said Sunday. "She's not going to be here."

Meanwhile, people in Paterson are outraged that a child has become a victim of gun violence.

"It's really no words," one woman said. "I have a four-year-old daughter... everybody is touched by this."

Rincon's father pleaded for anyone with information to speak out.

"Say something," he said. "That was my daughter. That was my first daughter."

Authorities say the shooting may be connected to another one that happened in the same area early Saturday. In that shooting, a 26-year-old man was wounded in the leg.