14-year-old girl chased down and shot in the head after confronted by young gang members in Back of the YardsSophie Sherryon June 3, 2021 at 3:31 pm

The girl was on a sidewalk in the 1700 block of West 48th Street when three people approached and one fired shots, striking her in the head, police said.

Three young gunmen chased a 14-year-old girl down a sidewalk in Back of the Yards and shot in her head Wednesday evening after asking what gang she belonged to, officials said.

The girl was walking her dog, headed to a corner store with her boyfriend, when she was confronted by the three around 6 p.m. in the 1700 block of West 48th Street, according to police.

They asked if she was in a gang and she said she wasn’t, at which point the three chased her half-way down the block and opened fire, according to Ald. Ray Lopez (15th), who said he got the details from police.

She was struck in the head and taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in critical condition, police said.

Anthony Vazquez / Sun-Times

No one was in custody.

Lopez said the shooters, who were believed to be 15 and younger, are part of a new gang in the area that has been recruiting from a neighborhood school. The alderman blamed the glorification of gang culture for violence in his ward.

“This elevation of gang life has to come to an end. It’s not cute. It only comes to one outcome, what we saw last night,” Lopez said.

Community activist Andrew Holmes said the girl was taken into surgery Wednesday evening. Her family was at the hospital.

Holmes urged neighbors who may have cameras on their homes to give footage to the Chicago Police Department.

With shootings up 36% this year compared to 2020, Holmes put partial blame on pretrial judges who set bonds, saying the lack of consequences for gun offenders is resulting in more violence — a belief repeatedly expressed by Chicago Police Supt. David Brown.

“These streets belongs to the children, the parks belong to the children,” Holmes said Wednesday outside Comer Hospital. “Give our city back to our youth.”

Between 5 and 8 p.m. Wednesday, at least four other people were shot in Chicago, two of them fatally. Since last week Thursday, at least 10 people 18 or younger have been shot in the city.

Through the end of May, 1,386 people were shot in Chicago, a jump from 1,116 during the same time in 2020. Murders have risen 5% compared to 2020, with the department reporting 252 murders so far this year.

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