Police questioning person of interest in fatal shooting of 7-year-old girl in Austin

Chicago police investigate Saturday after a 7-year-old girl was fatally shot in the 100 block of North Latrobe Avenue while attending a Fourth of July party at her grandmother’s home. | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Chicago police have taken a person in for questioning in connection with the killing of a 7-year-old girl Saturday in Austin.

Police confirmed that detectives were talking to a person of interest but could not provide further details.

Natalia Wallace was gunned down Saturday evening outside a Fourth of July party at her grandmother’s house in the West Side neighborhood.

Natalia Wallace

“On a day when families should be celebrating, having a good time, spending time together, a 7-year-old girl was taken from us,” Chicago Police Chief of Operations Fred Waller said at the scene.

Wallace is one of 10 children who have been shot so far over the Fourth of July weekend. Another child, 14-year-old Vernardo Jones, Jr., was killed in a shooting late Saturday that also left three men dead and four more wounded.

Seventy-five people have been shot over the holiday weekend as of 9:20 p.m. Sunday, according to Sun-Times records. Fourteen of those people have died.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.