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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Here is dreadful example of how poor leadership for decades has failed the people. Many cry for more gun laws where law-abiding citizens cannot defend themselves well this is what it gets you. Everyone living in that area are nothing more than future victims and the criminals know it, and they will continue to prey on you day after day. Nothing will ever change without a change in leadership. I am sorry for there loss and everyone who cannot pick-up and leave that city.
What some people don't know is there are some people who kill for entertainment. They have no conscious that tells them not to. Only the fear of getting caught stops them. These people are diagnosed as psychopaths or sociopaths. There are many people with this disorder who have been taught to live in society and live functional lives across all income levels. However, the population of prisoners incarcerated has a very high percentage of psychopathology and other anti-social disorders. To diagnose such extreme problems early on would get them treated, and save society the cost of a victim, an overburdened court system, and long term incarceration.
This is not an issue about gun control, it is about how little our society values anything, especially the lives of two children.
The youth of today have no value for anything. They feel they are entitled to have whatever they want no matter what. Where were the parents of these two men when they were growing up? Why do they have so little respect for those around them.
I believe that there is more than meets the eye here. These 2 men were sending a message to someone.
Having more laws about restricting guns will do nothing if the laws that we already have are not enforced.
Oh, my goodness. I feel so deeply for the parents. This story really made me sad.
I think the bigger concern is, and has always been keeping guns out of the wrong hands. Unfortunately, plenty of "bad" guns are already out there, ...and they tend to circulate. More effort should be placed on retrieving these weapons. No LAW passed will do anything to help this. Bad guys don't care about no damn laws, it's why they're the bad guys!
It's clearly Obama's fault. If he wasn't such pals with the Mexican Drug Cartels this never would have happened!
Rest in peace dear one.
Maybe some of the locals will actually come forward and let the judicial system know who did it now, it probably is dangerous but if there's a culture of not snitching this will never end
So... guns don't kill people... it's the impact of a high-velocity lead projectile initiated by a bad guy that kills people?
Nobody's saying restrict gun usage, you nra moron... just make buying a gun as difficult as say, a republican getting a masters degree. And then simply make private resale of a purchased weapon a felony punishible by five years of reading, going to museums and watching classical theater.
@ERICA. Im sure the guns that were used in this case were not registered or legal and they got them from the black market or their gang. Making it harder to get guns makes it harder for ordinary citizens. These gang killings wont be stopped by making gun restrictions tighter. Stricter gun restrictions will only hurt the average citizen
I see these posts about gun control and I can't help but say something. Do you people actually believe that if we outlaw guns today crime will go down and these senseless deaths will stop happening? I mean seriously, if guns are outlawed today it will only manage to create a huge underground black market. How effective has your government been at stopping the spread of drugs in this country? What makes you think they will do any better at stopping the sale of weapons. I would gladly turn over my handgun if I felt it would save someone else's life. However I live in Chicago and I'm holding onto it just in case I need it to save mine.
This sort of thing would be happening if the residents of Chicago had been allowed to own and keep firearms for self defense. There would be allot less criminals and gang bangers roaming the streets. You can take gun control and stuff it where the sun don't shine. Gun control isn't about public safety, it's about controlling the masses. Chicago has had the most restrictive gun control laws in the nation, yet it is the most dangerous city in the country to live in.
personaly they should be found and hanged.
lets look at reality here. I assume since they were on bicycles they had handguns as using a long gun from a bike would be difficult and difficult to hide after fireing. Untill July handguns were banned in chacigo. the current law doesnt allow you to take the gun out of your house. So these people were illeagly in possion of the gun, how would banning guns prevent this? make them illeagal and criminals will still get them. Otherwise chacigo wouldnt have had a handgun related death in the 28 years they had the ban in place.
Gun Control? Chicago has some of the strongest gun control laws in the nation and some of the highest violent crime rates. Ireland? Look at northern Ireland and the history of violence there. States that have lax gun laws have less violent crime. When you allow citizens to defend themselves crime goes down.
lets give everyone a gun so everyone can shoot each other.. bet they wouldn't shoot the 8 yr old of the other one had a gun too...
Matt, Ireland (the whole country) has a population (4.4 million) of about half of the Chicago metropolitan area (9.7 million) about 2.7 million within the city limits. Dublin has a little more than half a million. You really cannot compare the two.
And yet, here in Arizona, where we have open carry and Constitutional carry (concealed weapons carried without a permit) , the crime rates for all categories of violent crime continue to drop. This is, no doubt, a tragedy but it has 0 to do with gun laws.
For God's sake gun supporters! there are endless stats proving gun access is the major contributing factor to associated deaths! Look at any other western country (who all, incidentally, seem to have decent gun laws) and the difference is remarkable. And in 80% of cases where one tries to defend oneself with a gun, the weapon is used against them. Your arguments are blind, uninformed, and allow the continued reign of violence to go on. Ban them!!!!
I own lots of guns, no one will ever be hurt by them. They are under lock and key, and electronically monitored. Banning my guns will solve nothing. Bad guys will still wantonly kill. This was all explained in the book, The Bell Curve, and nothing we do can change that.
Bill, you are right. It does not matter what we make illegal or what we stop selling. If a criminal wants a gun, drugs, C4 or anything else...they will find it and pay for it. Then those who do have guns to protect themselves will be easy prey for these cowards who shoot children. God will take care of these punks.
I thought gang members had a code about not involving children in their mayhem. If there is a code, the elder members of the gang should have exterminated these guys by now. It's simple. Every generation gets worse and worse. Some young gang-bangers trying to get initiated shot at a 9 year old girl playing in her yard alone here in L.A. yesterday. How about going into an enemy's territory and shoot at them. Thank GOD she was not harmed, but my prayers go out to the family of this girl killed in Chicago. May the Lord hold you now.
I say rewrite the laws. Execute every known gang member on site or drop them in the middle of the Afghanistan, and they can shoot all they want to. Cowardly sucm!
The criminals (pure evil or horrificaly insane) could still get guns no matter what the law is or isn't. People have a right to bare arms protecting their own home. However, if you kill someone breaking into your home, the laws of the land still protect the intruder and you could go to jail. It's horrible that our children are not safe anyplace especially at home where everyone should feel safe. People who perform these despicable acts enjoy it and are sick. It too bad there isn’t some method of determining who these atrociously displace brutal individuals are. If they are caught, and I hope and pray they will be, they need a speedy trail to the electric chair better still hung upside down, in the heat of the day, by their toes until dead or buried like the Indians did in an ant hill.
My prayers go to this child and the child injured and their families.
Erica, do you really think that these guys wouldn't get a gun to do what they wanted. The problem isn't those who own guns for legal uses but those who do like these thugs did.
You have to be kidding, people honestly think you will save any lives by getting rid of legal guns?
All you will do is fuel a new underground market from the south providing even more weapons. This will make the cartels currently running drugs even more powerful and dangerous.
Why don't you stop your short-sighted thinking and attack the problem, not a symptom.
Have we really devolved as a society that we prefer bandaids to cures?
Certainly the drug companies have, it's much more profitable to spend billions on treating a symptom, rather than finding a cure in the first place, And if the treatment kills a small number of people, welp, it's acceptable losses. (Of course the families and freinds might not think so) Cures are not money makers, you can't people dependant on outrageous monthly drug purchases if you cure them!
The problem is poverty, grinding drudgery, no hope and no way out. The rich are getting richer, and the middle/lower classes are paying for it.
We have been manipulated by our goverment to the point that graft, theft and lies are all acceptable behavior for the rich and powerful. (shh, Just don't get caught)
Perhaps if we changed our policies and stopped wasting 100's of billions of dollars on fighting a losing battle against drugs, the sex trade and gambling, we would have some extra money for education, rehab and all the other little perks that are easily available to the upper class.
/End Rant 😉
I can understand if someone kills a kid by shooting into a house....but to kill a kid on a sidewalk jumping rope.....seems like it was ment, and the fact they were on bikes urks me even more.
This is tragic, but I have to raise the question – I can't tell if this was racially motivated because although Falcon disclosed that the assailant was African-American, they did not disclose the ethnicity of the victim. Shouldn't journalism present unbiased reporting?
You americans are messed up! "I want the right to bare arms" Well, you got your right and look whats happening to your country!
Erica- Chicago has the toughest gun control in the country, criminals don't obey laws...let's try to operate in reality.
Ok – so, as you may or may not know, guns have been illegal to own in Chicago since prohibition. So everyone who starts using this as way to tout Gun Control needs to think a little.
Before you jump all over me, I'm not saying you're WRONG to want Gun Control. I'm just saying THINK, because you clearly aren't.
Well of course if the "men" turn out to be kids who were just riding their bikes and carrying a gun, we all know they will not be punished. Simply because the laws of the land Protect Kids who kill. Perhaps a small slap on the wrist or keep them in detention until they turn 18 and then out they go. Knock yourself out, kids they'll say!
Why are the laws of the land so gentle to kids who commit crimes? If they are knowledgeable enough to carry a gun and know what that gun can do, why don't they receive the full punishment just as any adult perpetrator would is want many would like to know including me! That's the problem - the LAX laws of the land where children need not fear facing any kind of serious punishment for their crimes! Wake Up America! It's High Time To Get Tough of Criminal Kids!!
There is a special place in hell for the murderer and you can bet it will be painful in ways unimaginable.
There's a, ahem, "demographic" element to most of these kinds of shootings.
If you have a generally law-abiding population, gun ownership isn't a problem. With a relatively large criminal element in "urban" areas, however, this is the kind of chaos that ensues.
People living in safe, secure neighborhoods need to realize that the standards they take for granted in their own communities may not hold elsewhere. Those most in favor of gun control suffer particularly acutely from this delusion.
Gun control is the first thing you jump to? You do realize this is the inner city? It's gang land violence all day, guns or not.
The problem isn't too much access to guns, it's too little access to strong fathers than can still control a teenage punkass gansta wannabe. THe crooks will have guns no matter what laws are passed. Get real, people, it's time to testify......
Here's a gun control plan: Locate areas on maps where the most murders by gun occur (count incidents rather than body counts so that we don't end up making Littleton, CO or VA Tech look like bigger murder capitals than areas where people are murdered by gun almost daily). Then, sweep those areas clean of guns owned by people with criminal records and/or associations with known criminals (and/or criminal gangs), and require gun owners who don't have criminal records or such associations to fulfill standards for gun ownership created specifically for these high-gun-death-incident areas. This will never be done, of course, because many people refuse to look at the demographics of shootings such as the one described in this sad news article.
what can we do about this? nothing.....
There is no reason for reasonable people to own a gun unless to kill someone. If guns were banned people would not need to protect their homes and their belongings with guns. The Constitution needs an update but this country will never go through such a change due to the nutcases that think African Americans are still property, guns are appropriate, and that England clearly has it all wrong.
Clearly.
Most of us do not remember a time before guns, pick up a history book. If every gun on earth was destroyed tomorrow, there would still be murder and mayhem. Firearms have only changed the way people interact. As long as there is bad people, bad things will happen. Guns are merely a tool, and with Chicago's gun laws, I will bet that they did not get this gun legally. And you really cannot compare the US with any other country. We are one of the largest most populated of all the developed countries in the world.
Gun control? Wanting to decriminalize hard drugs and criminalize gun ownership? HELLOO?!? We are wise enough to know that you could not enforce any law by just controlling the supply sides. If you want to control gun ownerships, control yourself to exercise proper parenting first!! It is your (unwanted) child that is amidst dealing and/or using drug, hence needs firearms to rob and commit crimes.
Nowadays, there are more people get killed with drug related incidents than a school massacre, believe it. Those two "African American men" must have been a dope slinging, drug pushing and girl pimping scums that are the walking proofs of failed parenting.
America is becoming a dangerous place for young people. Our nation is going to downhill fast.
We won't have to worry about the terrorists destroying our nation. We are doing it all by ourselves.
Unfortunate that the family had to go through this, my prayers go out to them. As some comments suggest, I don't believe making it harder to get a gun will help these cases. These criminals will always know where they can pick up anything they want. Guns are here to stay even with tougher laws.
The problem with restricting gun availability is that it basically doesn't work. Such a law isn't enforceable. Look at narcotics. It's totally illegal on a national level and you can pretty much get any drug you want anytime. Prohibition ring a bell, anyone?
Anyone here read that article a few weeks ago here on CNN from a teacher in Chicago writing about the handgun ban? Basically, he said that the ban didn't do anything because there were so many guns already out on the street. It was just a political bragging point to show that politicians "did something" even if it didn't produce any results.
So, for all of the gun ban advocates, think about this:
Would you allow the police to come into your house to search for guns?
If the answer is no, then your treasured gun ban simply won't work. Guns are simply too hard to track and there are too many already out there.
That's horrible, but what do you expect? Chicago is a sanctuary city for criminals... they have/get all the guns they want and they don't have to worry about anyone shooting back at them. If I were a criminal, Chicago sounds like THE place to be.
Should gangs be listed as terrorist cels and dealt with in the same manner as Islamic Terrorists? You betcha!
Hey Matt, great idea. Let's get rid of the First Amendment as well. That way your freedom of sppech to make your idiotic comment will be taken away as well.
This can't be Chicago, where Mayor Daley's gun control policies haven't prevented a thing, except the law-abiding from defending themsleves legally.
I would agree with Bill on that. It seems pretty stupid to think people who have illegally obtained weapons would somehow be hurt by the legal ownership laws.
How sad. Put these men away. They are broken, less than human, and are of no use to society.
Illinois governors have had a moratorium on the death penalty since 2003. It is past time to lift it.
Bill, if you look at murders statistics (per capita), you'll see that countries with effective gun control have drastically lower murder rates than those without. How can you argue that restricting gun usage wouldn't help? The fact is, the more guns you have in circulation, even if a good portion of it is owned by law-abiding citizens, as you say, the more likely they are to end up in the hands of the "bad guys". Murder rate in the US is about 0.04 per 1000 people. Right up there with Uruguay and Bulgaria. In the meantime, countries in Western Europe, where gun control is strictly enforced, gravitate around 0.01 per 1000 people. And even the "good people" guns are more likely to generate tragic accidents at home than help anyone defend themselves.
To all you gun control freaks, you really think these thugs went through legal means to get their guns? sure this stuff doesnt happen in places w/out guns. instead people are stabbed w/ pitchforks and knives. try reading the Manchester Evening News sometime and see just how "safe" countries w/ strict gun control laws really are. the problem isnt that we need gun control, the problem is we need thug control. we know who the type of people are that commit these crimes, we know where the communities are that they live in. do something about it.