An 8-year-old girl riding a scooter outside her home in Chicago was shot dead Saturday by an aggravated neighbor — amid a violent weekend where 27 people were shot in the Windy City.
The girl, identified as Serabi Medina, was on her scooter heading home from an ice cream truck at about 9:40 p.m. when the gunman ran over from his apartment across the street and shot her in the head, WGNTV reported.
The gunman, who had complained about neighborhood kids making noise, was tackled by the girl’s father, who witnessed the shooting, according to a witness report obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
The gunman was shot above his left eye and his weapon was recovered from the scene.
Police said the girl was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital.
The gunman was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition. No charges have been filed.
Megan Kelley, a neighbor of Serabi’s family, told the Sun-Times that the man had a reputation for complaining about kids playing outside on the block — and that neighbors would try to avoid him.
“Just little kids playing, he would come out just yelling about the noise. It just didn’t make sense, none of it made sense,” Kelley said. “Everybody in the community would just tell him they are just kids having fun playing, just let them be.”
“You kind of just stayed away from him,” Kelley said, adding that the family had been affected by gun violence before — the girl’s mother was killed in a shooting in 2019.
Stuffed animals and sunflowers were placed around a tree near the scene of the shooting.
Another neighbor, James, described the 8-year-old as “daddy’s little girl” who “was always riding around out here back and forth,” on her scooter.
“She didn’t deserve to go,” he added.
Serabi was set to start fourth grade at Reinberg Elementary School this fall.
In a statement, the Chicago school district said, “With great sadness, we are devastated at the loss of another young life.”
“The thoughts and condolences of the entire Chicago Public Schools (CPS) family are with all those impacted by this tragedy.”
Chicago cops said that a total of 27 people were shot in 25 separate incidents between Friday evening and Sunday night. The weekend shootings left a total of seven people dead.
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People should be certifiably sane TO BE ALLOWED to own a gun.
Also, let us bring back mental sanitariums . There are a lot of people that should not be allowed to be part of society because of the danger they represent to the rest of us.
I understand your sentiment, but who will certify you as insane? In totalitarian leftist countries (Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, and soon the USA) people who oppose the government are declared insane and shipped to mental prisons. And not just gun ownership. Politicians, media types (such as 100% of MSNBC), having kids, etc..
This is wrong on several counts. No name listed for the killer, but it’s Chi Town. Glad the dad put lead in his head. But why was an 8 year old girl out riding at 9:40 at night in Chicago (the new 1980s Beirut)?
We need gun control laws, no child should die for playing outside.
Chicago has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country. The GUN CONTROL HASN’T HELPED ONE BIT!
We have too many laws now. Make more laws will not stop someone from getting them. The criminals have more guns than citizens. Laws need to be enforced and police stop being vilified.
What happenned to this beautiful child should never happen. Apparently, this guy has been a problem for some time. He should have had the police investigate him before anything like this can happen. He needs to be put away for life.
My prayers go out to this family. May God help them and their friends through this tremendous loss.
WHY IS THE GUNMAN STILL ALIVE.
The DEATH PENALTY is the automatic outcome for any person killing a child 12 years old & under. No exceptions, No insanity pleas, No mental illness or other legal excuses. The perp gets a fair trial, 2 justifiable appeals within 5 years, then sentence carried out.