Pictured: Emotional moment father learns his two-year-old daughter is safe after her mother was gunned down outside home 

  • Roderick Watson smiled then cried with relief when he heard child was safe
  • Feared A'Kyleana was lost after mother Taylor Latham was found dead
  • 24-year-old mom was found with gunshot wound in Baton Rogue, Louisiana
  • Local news cameras pictured emotional Watson hearing daughter was alive
  • They were soon reunited - but police are still investigating the shooting 

By Kieran Corcoran For Dailymail.com

Published: 13:26 EST, 6 May 2015 | Updated: 16:47 EST, 6 May 2015

This is the moment a young father cries with relief as he finds out that his two-year-old daughter was still alive after going missing in a gun attack that killed her mother.

Roderick Watson Jr breaks out into a broad smile, then bursts into tears as news crews watched him take a phone call from police telling him his daughter was safe.

He was pictured moments later holding and kissing his daughter in a photograph by the Baton Rogue Advocate.

Watson had feared little A'Kyleana was lost after officers found her mother, Taylor Latham, 24, shot dead in a car outside her home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

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Smiles and tears: Roderick Watson Jr broke into a broad smile then cried when he found out his two-year-old girl was safe after her mother was shot dead
Caught on camera: Watson's emotional display was caught by local news crews, whom he had been speaking to before the police called with the good news

Smiles and tears: Roderick Watson Jr broke into a broad smile then cried when he found out his two-year-old girl was safe after her mother was shot dead

Reunited: Watson is pictured above holding two-year-old A'Kyleana after he got her back following the killing. She had been dropped off by an unknown person at a women's shelter in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Reunited: Watson is pictured above holding two-year-old A'Kyleana after he got her back following the killing. She had been dropped off by an unknown person at a women's shelter in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Watson, who is separated from the mother of his child, raced down from his home in Texas after hearing about Latham had been found dead, local station WAFB reported.

Police in the city are yet to name a suspect in the murder, and details of exactly what happened remain unclear.

It was feared A'Kyleana had been hurt in the attack as well - but police say she was dropped off at a women's shelter within the city.

Killed: Taylor Latham, 24, pictured above with A'Kyleana, is thought to have been shot dead on Saturday, then lain in her car for almost two days before being found

Killed: Taylor Latham, 24, pictured above with A'Kyleana, is thought to have been shot dead on Saturday, then lain in her car for almost two days before being found

Together: A'Kyleana is pictured above with Watson and other family members after being returned

Together: A'Kyleana is pictured above with Watson and other family members after being returned

No further details were released about how the girl made it back to safety.

Responding to the news, Watson told WAFB: 'There's not a word that you could even find in a vocabulary for when your child comes back home - because for a lot of people they never get to see their children again once they leave, never'.

Footage of a reunion shortly after the phone call shows A'Kyleana giggling and smiling around her family members, oblivious to her mother's death.

'Lots of people never see their children again': Watson spoke of his joy that A'Kyleana was returned to him safely. They are pictured above before the shooting took place

'Lots of people never see their children again': Watson spoke of his joy that A'Kyleana was returned to him safely. They are pictured above before the shooting took place

Officers believe Latham was shot while sitting in her car some time on Saturday, but lay in her car undiscovered for two days before being found Monday evening.

Latham and her daughter had recently moved to Louisiana from Texas. An autopsy was due to be completed on Wednesday.