Trick-or-treater, 7, shot in Chicago gang war crossfire
CHICAGO — Every Halloween, 26th Street through Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood becomes an unbroken parade of children in bright costumes snaking in and out of businesses braced for the trickor-treaters.
“Who doesn’t enjoy Halloween?” asked Laura Gutierrez Ramos, owner of Nuevo Leon restaurant, a staple of the strip for more than 40 years.
But this year, she felt only sadness and anger. A 7year-old girl dressed as Minnie Mouse was shot and seriously wounded across the street from the restaurant by a gunman aiming at a gang rival. Yet children continued to come in for candy, despite the crime tape and squad cars.
“It did not faze people,” she said. “Our community is very immune to the situation.”
The girl is apparently the latest victim of a gang war that has been waged in the neighborhood since the 1960s.
Police believe the gunman is a member of the
Gangster Two-Six gang and was targeting a Latin King when he shot the girl two times as she walked down the street with her father Thursday evening in the 3700 block of West 26th Street — close to the border dividing rival street gangs.
The gunman, wearing a white “Jason” mask, stepped from an alley about 5:30 p.m. and yelled a Latin King insult before firing at least seven times into a crowd of children, hitting the girl on the right side of the neck and her upper chest, according to Chicago police.
“The girl’s father was screaming, ‘My little girl’s been shot!’” said Lali Lara, 25, who was working in a cellphone store on the block.
She rushed the girl and her family inside the store, where she held the girl’s hand while pressing against her chest to stop the bleeding. “She was holding my hand for three minutes and then she let me go. I have kids — I would go crazy if something happened to my kids.”
The girl was taken in critical condition to Stroger Hospital, where police said she has been stabilized. Friends said the girl lives around the corner from the shooting.
The target of the gunfire was a 32-year-old man with a minor arrest record who happened to be walking near the girl. He was hit in the hand and ran off. Police found him a block away, but he refused to talk to investigators, officials said.
Friday morning, police took a juvenile in for questioning. The department did not release any other details, but earlier Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said detectives had identified someone who might be the shooter.
“Those involved don’t deserve to be in our city,” Johnson told reporters. “I’m disgusted but committed to doing everything we can to find the cowards that would engage in a gun battle in early evening hours while children were trick-or-treating.”