An 8-year-old girl who was fatally shot while riding in a car with family members over the holiday weekend was the unintended target of a gang shooting, police said Tuesday.
“We don’t have a definitive motive, but there’s an ongoing gang conflict in the area and it’s possible other people in this vehicle were the targets, obviously the 8-year-old was not, but it doesn’t appear that it was a random act,” Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said at a news conference.
The slain girl, Dajore Wilson, was is the sixth child 10 or younger to be murdered in Chicago since late June, according to data maintained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
The girl was in a vehicle with family members — two of whom were also wounded — when a person in another vehicle opened fire Monday night in Canaryville.
“Getting notified of another child being a victim of gun violence is one of the most painful experiences, not only as a law enforcement professional but also as a parent,” Police Supt. David Brown said.
“These young people, these children, are not the targets. The people who they’re with, the adults, are the targets. And more often than not, we’re talking about targeted in relation to gang conflicts,” Brown said.
Despite a holiday weekend that police said included 51 shooting victims, eight shooting deaths and two stabbing deaths, Brown said the city has seen “tenuous progress” in stemming violence since he implemented several policing changes.
“Seven weeks of the reorganization that I put in place under my tenure has resulted in a 50% reduction in murders and an 18% reduction in shootings,” Brown said.
Despite the drop in violence in recent weeks, Chicago has seen an overall 50% jump in murders this year through August compared to 2019.
“It’s fragile, obviously, but we’re seeing tenuous progress,” he said.
Brown also said charges were likely to be announced later Tuesday against a suspect who’s in custody after the stabbing death Sunday of a Walgreens employee in Wicker Park.
