A shooting in Belmont Central on Sunday left one girl dead and her younger sister “fighting for her life” at Loyola University Medical Center, Chicago police said.
Gunfire rang out about 2:50 p.m. in the 6200 block of West Grand Avenue as the mother was putting her two children in the backseat of a car, said Chief of Patrol Brian McDermott. The two little girls were struck as they sat in the parked car.
Chicago police rendered aid until the paramedics arrived and transported the girls to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, McDermott said.
The 7-year-old, who was shot in the chest and torso, was pronounced dead at the hospital, police said. She hasn’t been identified.
Her sister, 6, was struck in the chest and armpit and is “fighting for her life,” McDermott said.
A 7-year-old girl was killed and another wounded August 15, 2021 in Belmont Central.Anthony Vazquez/Sun-times
McDermott identified the block as “a gang-conflict area” but said he doesn’t believe the children or their mother were the intended target. It’s unclear as of Sunday evening if there was more than one gunman.
“To say that I am sad and outraged would be an understatement,” McDermott said Sunday evening during a news conference outside the 25th District police station. “I can only hope that every resident of this city is angry, saddened and outraged as I am at this time. Too many young people have lost their lives to senseless gun violence in the city of Chicago.”
A man, who did not want to use his name, had been working and said he heard screams and shrieking outside a nearby clinic. “I’m sitting in a state of shock. I never expected anything like this to happen in Chicago, never.”
McDermott urged community members to come forward with information.
“I know that there’s people out there somewhere that saw something that could help us solve this crime,” said McDermott, who encouraged anyone with information to file an anonymous tip on the Police Department’s website or to contact Area 5 detectives. “We owe it to the families to bring these violent offenders who have no respect for human life to justice.”
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Activist Andrew Holmes offered a $2,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest and conviction.
“It’s not about the money, it’s just about catching these individuals before they strike and hit another child,” Holmes said. “Stop killing our children.”