An 8-year-old girl was fatally shot and two adults were seriously injured in Chicago on Monday evening after gunshots were fired into a vehicle in the city’s south side, according to police.
Shots were fired into a Subaru SUV at a stop light just before 6 p.m. in Chicago’s Canaryville neighborhood, Chicago Police Chief of Operations Brian McDermott said. The young girl and three adults were in the vehicle at the time of the shooting incident.
Two of the adults, a 31-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman, suffered gunshot wounds.
“Our victims’ vehicle was parked facing northbound on Union Avenue with the offender’s vehicle directly behind it,” McDermott said, reported ABC 7. “When the light turned green, the offender’s vehicle immediately opened fire on the victims’ vehicle.”
“The victims’ vehicle continued northbound on Union and crashed into a tree,” McDermott said.
The girl was rushed to University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital to be treated for her injuries, where she was pronounced dead. Her name hasn’t been released.
The suspect reportedly made a U-turn and fled the scene in a black, newer-model Dodge.
“I stand before you, saddened and angered, that another child has lost their life in senseless gun violence in the city of Chicago,” McDermott told reporters.
The two adults who each sustained a gunshot wound to their backs in the attack were transported to University of Chicago Medical Center in serious condition.
Another 30-year-old woman, reportedly the mother of the 8-year-old girl, also sustained injuries, but it is not yet clear if she was caught up in the gunfire. She remains at the University of Chicago Medical Center in good condition, McDermott said.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the 8-year-old is the sixth child aged 10 or younger to be killed in the city since late June.
As of late Monday night, at least seven people were killed and 44 others were wounded in shootings across Chicago over the Labor Day weekend.
So far in 2020, figures from the Chicago Tribune show that at least 175 children ages 16 or younger have been shot in the nation’s third largest city, with at least 21 of them dying. Overall, more than 2,850 people have been shot in Chicago this year, at least 464 of them fatally.
The Chicago Police Department has urged anyone with knowledge of the shooting to send in anonymous tips at CPDTip.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
