Chicago girl jumping rope shot dead
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Gabriel Falcon
AC360° Writer
An 8-year-old girl, in Chicago, who was jumping rope with a playmate was shot to death by unknown gunmen who opened fire from their bicycles, authorities said. The other girl, who is 7, was grazed in the head by a bullet and is listed in fair condition at a local hospital, police said. Published reports identified the injured girl as the victim’s cousin.
The incident happened Tuesday shortly before 8pm in the south side of the city, investigators said. Officer Robert Perez, a spokesman for the Chicago Police, told CNN two African-American men riding on bikes approached the girls who were jumping rope on the porch of a home.
“We don’t know who or what the target was,” Perez told CNN, “that hasn’t been determined.” Police said they did not know if the shooting was gang related. Detectives “are looking at all possible leads and they do not have anyone arrested for the incident and they are still interviewing witnesses,” Perez said.
The girl who was killed was in the 3rd grade at Kohn Elementary School, said Chicago schools spokeswoman Monique Bond.
The shooting comes just two days after the Chicago Police announced that murders were down 1.5% in July after a 4-month increase.
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Filed under: Crime & Punishment • Gabe Falcon |
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You can make gun laws as strict as can be – the bad guys will still get them. Unless you know a way to press some magic button so that the manufacture of guns and all existing guns disappear, we cannot prohibit law-abiding folks from having guns
Bad Gun! Bad Gun! how dare you shoot those little girls you bad gun! Who are the morons who want to blame the tool? Next thing you know the clowns will confiscate our golf clubs cuz somebody killed someone with a 3 iron. Wake up. How about holding the individual responsible for their actions? I dont feel like cutting my steak with a frisbee because people want to blame guns instead of the real tool.
This was a terrible incident but those of you calling for more gun control dont get it. Chicago has had a gun ban for decades – if that law works so well how did these thugs get the guns?? What happens is only law abiding citizens have any fear of the police so they are the ones to abide by the gun bans. The criminals do not and will not turn their weapons in. What happens in the end is they have weapons to prey upon us.
I fear for my 7 year old son. I fear for him and the world he is going to have to live in. I get weary of continually having to be on high alert. We have no freedom. We are restricted by lawlessness. As hopeless as it sounds, I believe it will only increase.
I am at a total loss for words. Just when you think we've sunk to our moral low point, something like this reminds me that we haven't reached rock bottom yet. Is this a shame? Yes. Is this an outrage? Certainly. The headline jumped out at me and my heart just sank. There was a time when the neighborhood protected innocent kids. Even the roughest of thugs always watched out for our little ones. But that is not the case anymore. I hope and pray that whoever did this will be brought to justice immediately and dealt with in a most severe manner to send a message to anyone who is thinking about this type of action. May God bless the soul of the little girl who was killed. Now, she can skip rope on the streets of gold in Heaven without fear.
jumping rope should be banned!
Gun Control isn't the problem. Chicago had a strict gun ban until June and clearly didn't help since the murder rate didn't drop until the ban was removed. Ireland has had an increase in murders since the ban in the 70s. We need to reform the judicial system that continues to allow criminals to roam the streets and prey on innocent people. These crimes are happening everyday across the states to innocent people.
Everyone involved in the incident will surely not cooperate with police. The whole "stop snitchin'!" thing is disgusting and a horrible aspect of ghetto culture.
This is sad beyond belief, I feel like crying for this girl and her family. There are no laws that will address the corruption of the souls of the shooters; they are lost to themselves & to society. There is no clearer form of evil & cowardice than taking an innocent. While some may preach forgiveness, I cannot forgive them this. Lock them up, throw away the key.
All of you previous commenters crying for more gun control need to realize that this is occurred in Mayor Daley's Chicago. Where he has an entourage of armed guards, but private citizens cannot obtain legal concealed carry weapons. It's pretty evident that criminals can still get guns even with stringent gun control laws on the books there.
Is it possible for even the NRA to agree that everyone should not have the right to own a gun? We must be able to consider ways that would protect the rights of the mentally sound and law abiding citizen without also granting easy access to gangbangers, the mentally ill and the criminal elements. What about the rights of the victims?
sorry, but the guns would be obtained by the thugs anyways. We have a societal problem, domestic terrorism really, used between gangs. Fear is a powerful weapon, and revenge is practically an obsession. The true root of the problem is the disintegration of the family unit. This ruins homes and creates such a host of other issues. This problem will continue so long as our society places riches over family life, divorce over children, out-of-wedlock births over sexual refrain, etc etc etc,
@Bill: "Why" restricting gun ownership reduces senseless crime like this is not important. The fact that restricting gun ownership DOES reduce crime IS important. Just compare countries based on their gun policies and that's all you need to know.
Bill is correct! Everyone wants to ban guns. Well those of us that abide by the law would not have them and those that don't care (the killers) will have them anyway. So make a law to punish law abiding people. Makes sense? Not to me...
The root of the problem is the lack of parents doing their job and the gov. taking control away from the parents. Make parents responsible for their hoodlumns lack of respect, lack of responsibility, etc. If I punish my child for getting out of line let me. You should do the same! Guess what, my child says thank you, yes sir, yes ma'am, etc. and I always receive compliments about how they behave. Excellent for my family but in reality how sad! All children should behave!
Gun control will not help this issue. The majority of weapons used in crimes are obtained illegally in the first place. The government can try as much as it wants to regulate weapons, but if they can't catch the drug dealers and gang members selling the weapons in the first place then what's the point? All that is going to do is make it harder for someone who is a hunter to get a gun to go get food for their family.
This is a tragedy and Chicago does need to crack down on the local gangs that keep recruiting young kids.
I've got news for you idiots calling for gun control: up until this year, Chicago had the strictest gun control laws in the country, and these sort of murders happened all the time. Why? Because criminals don't care about gun laws!
And people in Ireland should talk about gun control in the U.S. A little thing called the IRA and all its terrorist activity comes to mind.
You sound like a bunch of wimpy democrats....In Texas law-abiding citizens carry guns and will not hesitate to shoot at armed criminals. I live in the second safest city in the country, and do you know why we are the second safest city in the country? Because we carry guns.
@Bill Restricting gun ownership would mean that there are a lot less guns on the street. Unless companies are selling them illegal, of course. It should be extremely difficult to obtain a handgun. You can't hunt with a handgun. Handguns are designed specifically to be easy to store/hide and to kill people.
You should also be required to continue licensing the gun and that you still have it in your possession at least once a year, IMO.
That is sick. What is wrong with people. Victims of the environment? They can get the hell out if they want to. I grew up around plenty of bad influences. I didn't like it, I left, moved, I'm gone. They probably SHOULD get a racist judge. I kind of hope they do.
Cowards. Want to be gangstas but would cry for mommy if they had to face a grown man unarmed. These folks can be spotted by thier sagging wardrobe. When will thier folks own up to the failure to raise a human being instead of showing up on the news defending the little punks and blaming everyone else for the conditions of thier community?
Want a solution? What motivates people? Money! Put a bounty out on these scumbags to every gang in the city and they'll be brought down in hours.
The whole world is dangerous. But not everyplace, outside of war zones, takes day to day killing of children as the norm. This is a Chicago, and American city illness. I mean nearly everyday....a child takes a bullet. My advice...MOVE....! People believe that they don't have choices. Not true. They may be difficult, but generally people manage to get what they want. There is no Shangri-La, but there are places in the world where a kid can play safely. But hurry because the American influence is spreading rapidly.
The right to bear arms was good 400 years ago when your nearest neighbor was 10 miles away. Not now. We need some serious restrictions on guns. We need to do away with these things. Ef it. Too many children are dying by the hands of idiots with a gun. People need to kill the gun...period.
sounds like chicago needs a bat
Restricting guns isn't the solution. That will create a black market and possibly make things worse. This is just a problem with human nature. These horrible human beings probrably have a background of criminal history. The jsutice system needs to be improved in order to filter these animals out and take them out of play.
Kill both of them
Gun control is NOT the answer. Chicago has the strictest gun control laws in the country. There isn't even a gun store or public shooting range in the city!
The person who shot these girls is a criminal. He (or she) obtained the gun illegally and used it illegally. Why should law abidding people pay the price for his crime? Chicago has some of the highest crime in the country – while cities with "easy" access to legal gun ownership have some of the lowest crime rates. Why? Criminals don't like it when their victims might be armed so they turn to more honest work or move to places like Chicago where the pickings are easy.
No, to gun control.
Guns are not the issue.
Gun control is not the issue.
Laws are not the issue.
The issue is murderers. People motivated to commit murder will use any tool at hand (even just their hands, if need be) and there is no way to prevent access to every tool accessible to a motivated criminal.
I say more guns for law abiding citizens. Arm yourselves to the teeth to take out criminals on the spot, within the law and moral code of your choice.
This really isn't a gun issue, this is a gang issue. Gangs have been around for a long time, and will continue to be. If they don't kill with guns, they will kill with something else.
Also, do you really think these guys go into your local gun shop and just pick out a gun? If you think making guns illegal will solve our problems, just look at Mexico, guns are illegal there.
Erica said "And people still think we shouldn't make getting a gun as difficult as possible????"
Then only the criminals would have guns.. I know because I lived with and around those criminals. If it wasn't guns it would have been bats, or some other weapon. The problem is the people.
Matt said something something.. Ireland.. doesn't happen cause we don't have guns.
Seriously?!??! IRA?!?! Murder, bombs "collateral damage" Nuff said.
The perps should be hunted down and shot. No mercy, no questions asked. We are too soft on murderers in this country!
where did this happen, mexico? oh no, chicago. not much difference here.
The problem is that bad people get guns and use them on good people, where as good people keep them safely away till needed against the bad people. By then it's too late.
@Erica ~ do you really think this crime was commissioned using legally registered firearms?
Yes, the greatest country in the world.
I agree with Bill.
I dunno if anyone has been hearing about the serial stabber on the loose... knife control, knife control, knife control.
I Think a problem about restricting gun use is that the law-abiding citizens that legally own a gun and use them responsibly aren't the same people who are the murderers. In the end, law or not, there will still be murder. The cold, heartless murderers are the people who don't own a gun legally anyway, so why would restricting gun usage help?
@Augsbee You seem to be living in your own special version of reality. I would challenge you to cite even one specific case where a convicted murderer was released from prison on the grounds of racially-motivated judicial misconduct and subsequently went on a killing spree. I'm sure if you looked hard enough you'd find one or two cases in the last hundred or so years, but in your mind you seem to think this happens on a regular basis. You might want to take a break from the Rush Limbaugh diet (guaranteed to drop 20 IQ points in two months or your money back!) for awhile.
@Erica My guess would be because there are plenty of Augsbees out there who think all gun-related crimes would magically disappear if groups like the NAACP or Innocence Project were banned as opposed to guns. But yes, I too wonder how many more needless deaths have to occur before people figure out that gun violence and guns go hand-in-hand.
@Daniel A very sad world, indeed....
@Alexis I second that. Rest in Peace, child.
How is this going on in America? I live at the border with Juarez City, in El Paso, and this is unheard of on this side of the border, so I'm wondering how authorities aren't being more aggresive in Chicago.
Everyone will scream and cry. No one will "snitch" Maybe, after a reward,Someone might talk..Sharpton/Jackson won't be heard from.. I wish I could say this surprised me but nothing does anymore.
What is this world coming to? A freaking 3rd grader shot to death by two kids on bikes?? Really??? Freaking sadd!! Goes to show how easy it is for kids to have access to guns. Freaking sadd this is.
Hi Mr A Copper. That is sad for both children
and to hear. Mostly,likely the police won't be able to catch the men. What is the world coming too. : (
That is just a disgrace. An innocent liittle girl jumping rope now dead.
We can't send our kids out to play in our front yards anymore. Gun control, Gun control, Gun control.
What is this world coming too! An 8 year old girl dies because jerk-offs like these people need to get there stupid revenge!!!
disgraceful, you guys really need to get rid of guns- this stuff just does not happen in countries without guns- Ireland for example. I dont care if if is in the constitution, the bottom line is innocent kids are getting killed because guns are freely available in the states
Poor children can't even play on their porches without being struck down by the murder and mayhem all around us... Rest in Peace, little one.
What kind of a world do we live in when a kid gets shot?!
And people still think we shouldn't make getting a gun as difficult as possible????
It will continue to happen because if they catch them, throw them in jail, some nutty group will say they are victims of their environment and don't deserve to be in jail and that the judge was racist.