CHICAGO _ Eleven-year-old Takiya Holmes, one of two young girls shot on the South Side of Chicago over the weekend, has died, according to her family.
Takiya died Tuesday morning, a little more than two days after she was shot in the head by a stray bullet while sitting in a parked car with her mother, aunt and younger brother in the Parkway Gardens neighborhood, her relatives said.
"She was in bad shape and all tests failed," said her cousin, community activist Andrew Holmes. "She had not started breathing on her own."
Another cousin, Rachel Williams, posted on Facebook: "At 8:17 this morning Takiya passed away in her mother's arms."
Takiya was shot around 8 p.m. in the 6500 block of South King Drive as her mother was trying to give a ride to a friend who worked at a cleaners, police said.
Half an hour earlier, 12-year-old Kanari Gentry Bowers was shot while playing basketball with friends at Henderson Elementary School in the West Englewood neighborhood, police said.
Kanari's family told reporters outside Stroger Hospital that on at least three occasions, paramedics and hospital staff couldn't detect the girl's heartbeat. She remains on life support, and so far has not responded to her relatives, her family said.
On hearing that Takiya had died, Kanari's cousin Rochetta Tyler posted on Facebook: "My loves the 11 yr old baby died. Come on Kanari Pleasse Lord Pleasse My condolences to the family"
Police said no one was in custody in either shooting.
Police spokesman Michael Carroll said detectives were canvassing both areas for any private video and reviewing images from city police cameras. He said the shootings were not related, and the girls were both unintended targets.
"Shooters were aiming at other individuals when the girls were hit by stray rounds," Carroll said, adding the both shootings occurred in areas with "high gang conflicts."
