An 8-year-old girl died in Chicago on Saturday after being shot during a drive-by gunfire incident, officials said.
Young Melissa Ortega and her mother were walking down a street in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood just before 3 p.m. when a vehicle pulled up and fired at a man as he was leaving a store, FOX 32 of Chicago reported.
The unidentified man, 26, and the girl were both hit and were in critical condition when they arrived at Mount Sinai Hospital, but the girl died hours later, the report said.
“Today’s an extremely sad day,” said Alderman Michael Rodriguez of Chicago’s 22nd Ward, where the shooting happened, Chicago’s WMAQ-TV reported. “I lived in my community of Little Village all my life, and it’s one of the saddest days I’ve ever experienced.”
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The girl was shot in the head, the man was shot in the back, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown.
(Chicago Police)
The girl’s mother was not hit. Neither she nor her daughter were intended targets, Michelle Tannehill, a Chicago police spokeswoman, told the Tribune.
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There were no immediate arrests, but the culprits were “known offenders,” police said, according to FOX 32.
What prompted the shooting was not immediately known.
An investigation was continuing, with officers going door to door, seeking information and potential security-camera footage, WMAQ reported.
