A 15-year-old girl who performed with her high school band for President Obama at his 2nd Inauguration last week was shot and killed in the Kenwood area of Chicago Tuesday.
Hidaya Pendleton died just blocks from the high school she attended. The teenager was an honor student, a well-liked volleyball player, and majorette.
Witnesses tell CBS 2’s Mike Parker that Pendleton was among a group of 10 to 12 teenagers seeking shelter from the rain under a canopy in a park on the 4500 block of South Oakenwald Avenue around 2:30 p.m., when a gunman jumped a fence, and opened fire on the teens.
Pendleton was shot once in the back. She was pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital. Another boy was hit in the leg. He was also taken to Comer Children’s Hospital. He is expected to recover from his injuries.
A witness said the teens scattered in different directions when the shots rang out. No one could give a good description of the gunman.
Jennifer West who lives in the neighborhood said gunshots are a rare occurrence on her block.
“We hardly … have any crime. There’s been a few break-ins over the past two years since we’ve been here, but nothing that’s ever caused alarm,” she said.
Another resident called 911 after hearing six gunshots.
“There has to be an end to it. It’s just too much. The children cannot go to school. They’re in fear,” resident Bonita O’Bannion said.
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Police said Pendleton had no gang affiliations, but several of the teens she was with were believed to be known gang members.
It’s a shame; Obama shed tears for the 20 children who died at Sandy Hook, but he has no tears to shed for the hundreds of black children who were gunned down in his own backyard since he’s been president.
