An 8-year-old Chicago girl was among at least seven murdered and more than two dozen victims of gun violence in the Windy City over the weekend, authorities said.
The child, identified as Sarabi Medina, was fatally shot in her head while playing outside an apartment building where she lived in Portage Park, her family told FOX32 Chicago.
“She was sweet, she would just ride her scooter up and down the sidewalk smiling,” neighbor Destiny Hill, told the station. “An innocent, innocent girl who did not deserve that.”
Chicago police statistics released Monday morning showed there were 25 reported shooting incidents and 27 reported shooting victims, fatal and non-fatal, from Friday evening to Sunday night.
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Sarabi Medina was identified as the 8-year-old girl who was fatally shot in the head while playing outside in her Chicago neighborhood over the weekend, according to local reports. (Legal Help Firm)
There were at least seven murders reported, according to police.
In Sarabi’s murder, the suspect approached a group outside her building from across the street, pulled out a handgun, and shot the girl in the head, Chicago police said. The child was rushed to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The shooting happened around 9:40 p.m. Saturday in the 3500 block of North Long Avenue in the city’s Portage Park neighborhood, police said. (FOX32 Chicago WFLD)
Another male at the scene tackled the suspect to the ground and tried to wrestle the gun away, according to police. During the struggle, the gun went off and struck the suspect in his face.
Witnesses told the station that the child’s father was the bystander who tackled the suspect.
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“When [the suspect] raised the gun up, Mike [the victim’s father] seen him and said, ‘That’s my daughter!’ Mike starts moving toward him, [the suspect] walks up to her and shoots her right in the head,” family friend Rene Aquino told the station.
Police said the suspect was shot in the face during a struggle with a man who was trying to wrestle the gun away. The suspect was hospitalized in critical condition and later taken into custody. (FOX32 Chicago WFLD)
The suspect was hospitalized in critical condition, police said. Police later said he was taken into custody and that charges were pending. No other details about the suspect were released.
Sarabi was getting ready to begin fourth grade at Reinberg Elementary School at the time of her murder.
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Her mother was also killed in a shooting several years ago, the station reported.