Imani Smith, the previous little one actor who starred in Broadway‘s The Lion King, has died.
Officers from the Edison Police Division discovered Smith with stab wounds on Sunday. She was transported to the hospital, the place she was pronounced useless, per a press launch from Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Chief Thomas Bryan of the Edison Police Division.
The discharge additional detailed that Jordan D. Jackson-Small has been arrested and charged with first-degree homicide, second-degree endangering the welfare of a kid, third-degree possession of a weapon for an illegal function and fourth-degree illegal possession of a weapon tied to her loss of life. “Smith and Jackson-Small knew one another previous to the incident, thus it was not a random act of violence,” the discharge added.
Smith starred as a Younger Nala within the Broadway present primarily based on the beloved Disney movie from Sept. 2011-2012.
Kira Helper, Smith’s aunt, organized a GoFundMe, the place she wrote that the actress was “senselessly killed by her boyfriend.”
“Imani had her entire life forward of her. She was a vivacious, loving and fiercely proficient particular person,” Helper wrote on the fundraiser web page. “A real triple-threat performer, she most notably performed the position of Younger Nala on Broadway in Disney’s Lion King — an expertise that mirrored the enjoyment, creativity, and lightweight she put into the world.”
Helper defined that the GoFundMe was organized to “assist Imani’s dad and mom, Monique Rance-Helper and Rawni Helper, who are actually dealing with the unimaginable: grieving their daughter whereas stepping in to lift her younger son and assist their two different kids throughout this traumatic time.”
Smith is survived by her three-year-old son; her dad and mom, Monique Rance-Helper and Rawni Helper; and two youthful siblings.