Anti-Violence Activist Killed In Chicago Drive By
Drive-by shooting: A Chicago woman who was a prominent community activist was tragically shot and killed after returning home from an event raising money for an anti-violence group.
Police believe that the fatal shooting of Leonore Draper likely was a random drive by rather than the victim of this horrible crime being an intended target. Responding officers found Draper in her car with gunshot wounds to her arm and chest at about 10:30 pm on Friday night. She was later pronounced dead a local hospital.
She was well-known and respected in the area for her community service activities. “The fundraiser Draper attended and helped organize was called A Charitable Confection and was benefiting Project Orange Tree, an anti-violence campaign that started after the death of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendelton last year.” Said one of the other project organizers, “It’s really ironic. She was a part of an anti-violence effort, and she becomes a victim of violence herself.”
According to ABC News, “A budget analyst for Chicago Public Schools and a freelance make-up artist, 32-year-old Leonore Draper was committed to fighting gun violence on Chicago’s city streets. ”
A neighbor claimed that “She was sitting in the car dropping her husband off who is handicapped. Some little girl was taking the man into the house. Then when the little girl came back out the lady, she was dead.”
Detectives are investigating this tragic shooting but no arrests have yet been made.
Draper was also active in fundraising for multiple sclerosis research, the disease her husband suffers from.
Three other persons were killed and 27 wounded in overnight Chicago violence.
Engulfed in an ongoing crime wave, Chicago — the political hometown of Barack Obama — has strict gun control laws. The city’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, previously served as Obama’s chief of staff at the White House.
The Chicago Police Department has been accused of cooking the books so that it looks like the crime rate is going down.
My heart breaks upon hearing of the murder of 1 of the #AntiViolence activists in Chicago, Leonore Draper. #RIP. pic.twitter.com/sYlsI4ciR4
— The B.L.A.C.K. (@theblackmuzik) April 27, 2014
