USA: Halloween gives 7-year-old girl critical injured while Chicago shooting was going on
A seven-year-old girl with a trick-or-treat in a bumblebee costume was critically wounded after being hit by apparent stray gunfire on Chicago’s West Side, the police said.
The girl who was shot in the upper chest on Thursday night was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, according to Larry Langford, spokesperson for the Fire Department.
A 30-year-old man was shot in his left hand and taken to the nearby hospital in good condition.
The shooting occurred early in the Halloween night, as the child was walking along the street in the Little Village neighborhood with her parents and other trick-or-treaters.
In a tweet, Chicago Police Spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said the girl was believed to be an unintended victim. He said community members were helping investigators, “but we need more.”
“We heard the shots … four shots and I went outside,” Lali Lara, who works in a cell phone store nearby, told the Chicago Tribune. “The father of the girl was screaming, ‘ My little girl was shot. ‘”
Police said that a group of males was chasing another male along the street when someone in the group fired at the intended victim. It was not immediately known if the wounded man had been with the girl, or if he had been targeted by the shooters. Police say they don’t have a description of the gunman, and no one was in custody.
“This is not acceptable,” said Sgt Rocco Alioto. “A seven-year-old girl who was a trick-or-treat with her family had to get shot because a group of guys was trying to shoot another man.”
The police said there is a surveillance camera near the scene of the crime from which the video can be obtained.
