Chicago shooting kills 7-year-old girl and wounds 7 people including small children, police say

CHICAGO– Eight people were shot, including a young girl who was killed Saturday evening in what Chicago police said was gang-related violence on the city’s South Side.

The 7-year-old girl was shot in the head and died, while a 1-year-old boy and a 7-year-old boy were each shot multiple times and listed in critical condition, Chicago Police Department Deputy Chief Don Jerome said. in a news briefing at the scene in a block of 52nd Street near Damen Avenue.

Police responded to a gunfire alarm around 9 p.m. and applied tourniquets and chest seals to the victims, who also included adults between the ages of 19 and 40, Jerome said.

The victims, who were outside at a family gathering at the time of the shooting, were transported to area hospitals by the Chicago Fire Department.

The investigation was still in its preliminary stages, but witness statements described two possible gunmen on foot, Jerome said.

“This was not a random act of violence. It was probably gang related,” Jerome said. “Regardless of the motivation for this incident, three innocent children were affected this evening and one of them tragically succumbed to her injuries. The actions of the offenders are, make no mistake, heinous and unnoticeable in our city.”