A 15-year-old girl who attended and performed at President Barack Obama’s inauguration has been shot dead on Chicago’s South Side.
Hadiya Pendleton was killed in a park just blocks away from King College Prep high school, which Pendelton and the group of friends she was with attended.
Police say Pendleton and a 16-year-old boy were shot at about 2:20 pm on Tuesday in the 4500 block of South Oakenwald Avenue, the Chicago Tribune reports .
As a result, Pendleton died, and the boy remains in a serious condition.
The paper adds that King College school closed early after examinations at the school finished, and, because of this, Pendleton’s group went to Oakenwald’s Vivian Gordon Harsh Park.
Pendleton was a majorette and a volleyball player and performed with other King College students at Obama’s inauguration events.
In a statement, police said that Pendelton and a group of around 10 to 12 teens huddled under a canopy in the park during a rainstorm on Tuesday afternoon.
Shortly afterwards a boy or man — police have not yet ascertained his age or identity — jumped over a fence in the park, ran toward the group, and opened fire.
Pendleton was struck once in the back and died at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital less than an hour later. The teenage boy who was also shot was struck in the leg and is also being treated at Comer.
One resident, who called 911, said she heard six gun shots during the incident.
After the attack, a group of young people sat vigil at the entrance to Comer Hospital’s emergency room, along with the principal of King College Prep high school.
Speaking of Pendleton, one girl told reporters outside the hospital’s E.R:
“She was awesome.”
According to the police, after the attack many of the group fled the park and are not cooperating with the investigation. As yet, police have no detailed descriptions of either the attacker or the vehicle in which he left.
Police crime data show no serious crimes happened in the 4400 or 4500 blocks of South Oakenwald Avenue between December 19 to January 20.
“It’s a great neighborhood. Nothing like this has happened since I’ve been here,” said Roxanne Hubbard, who has lived in the neighborhood for 19 years.
Police have said Pendleton was not part of a gang and was most likely not the intended target. Several of the teens with her, however, were believed to be gang members, CBSChicago reports .