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Heaven Sutton, 7, left, was fatally shot in Chicago's North Austin neighborhood.
A 7-year-old girl was fatally shot in the back Wednesday outside of her family’s home in Chicago.
The girl, identified as Heaven Sutton, was selling candy with her mother and playing with friends around 10:45 p.m. in the city’s North Austin neighborhood when someone opened fire down the street, NBCChicago.com reported.
The girl’s mother, Ashake Banks, said she threw herself on the ground while her daughter ran into her family’s home. Moments later, Banks said she found her daughter unconscious inside a hallway.
“There were two guys,” Heaven’s brother, Malik Ellis told NBCChicago.com. “I saw one come out of the gangway. He walked into the middle of the street and started shooting.”
For more, visit NBCChicago.com
Heaven was rushed to an area hospital. She was pronounced dead there at 11:16 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
“I’m lost for words. That was my pride and joy,” Banks told the Chicago Tribune.
Banks said the soon-to-be second grader told her on several occasions she wanted her family to move out of the violent neighborhood. She said her daughter was a sweet, smart girl.
Heaven is the 20th person under the age of 17 to be killed by gunfire in Chicago this year, reported the Chicago Tribune.
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Banks said she opened a candy stand on her block two weeks ago to keep kids close to their homes and away from gang crossfire.
“I opened up the candy store for the kids so they wouldn't have to be pulled back and forth on the block because there’s been so much shooting,” Banks told the Chicago Tribune. “I figured they (gang members) know us, they wouldn’t come to the neighborhood and start shooting, but they really didn’t even care.”
Banks said she believes the shooting is gang-related and Heaven was an unintended target.
A 19-year-old man also was shot in the ankle and is listed in good condition at Loyola University Medical Center, NBCChicago.com reported.
Chicago police are searching for two men seen fleeing the shooting. No arrests have been made.
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Leave a Comment:
Where were the cops? they should have stopped this tradgedy before it happened.
How? Profiling? My guess is the perps look like they're from that 'hood.
The cops have a few good descriptions of the suspects. Dark skinned,curly dark hair and bright white and gold teeth.
the cops was buyin' candy from another dealer oops I mean another little 7 year old.
wow! the peace loving citizens of chicago at it again. troops need to be deployed here and round up the gangs and send them to a island to defend for themselfes. run the thugs out of town,if they do not have a job or in school off to the island.police should shoot on sight these thugs that did this.
If you run them out of town all you get is problems in the next town
10:45 PM.....they must have been selling nose candy. What the hell was the mother thinking with a 7 year old out in that neighborhood at that hour?
WED. June 27, 2012
CHICAGO:
HOT and Humid with near record highs of 100-105 and lows near 80. Heat indices (Feels-like temperature) will be between 100 and 110.
GET A CLUE...before you get snarky...it was probably damn HOT in the house.
RI Mom...
I was raised in a railroad flat in Brooklyn as a kid. Hell, a FAN was a luxury we didn't have.
While it might be HOT in the house, I can assure you that it's a GREAT DEAL SAFER than being on ANY street in Chicago at that hour. (Unless of course it happens to be the immediate area around the Mayors residence.)
Maybe because it was hot and they couldn't afford a.c.? Schools out. If the child was not tired there is no reason she couldn't be up and playing. Her mother was near her. This is neither the childs nor the moms fault. It is the fault of a couple of gang banger slime suckers. It is obvious that passing restrictive gun laws does not solve the problem(No, I'm not advocating arming 6 years old children.) We need to get to the root of the problem and solve the real difficulties and stop bloviating about symptoms instead of the actual disease.
How about moving out of that 'hood?
rfaber9...
therein lies part of the problem. "If the child was not tired there is no reason she couldn't be up and playing"
Did it ever occur to you that the parent should be a parent? Children often don't realize just how tired they are. That's one reason for establishing a routine and putting a SEVEN year old child to bed.
Parents need to be PARENTS and stop trying to be their childs best friend. That's what other CHILDREN are for.
BS, no excuses. 7 years olds should be in the house and asleep at that time of night. You can buy fans for under $10 a piece. Can't tell me people in that hood are sooooo poor they can't save thru the winter and spend $20 -30 bucks on a few fans. I mean come on!!! These ghetto folks find they $$$ for drugs and guns and yet you want to say they can't afford fans!!!! BSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBS!!!!!!
Why wasn't she in bed?
Until old Rahm decides to grow a pair and take on the gangs in Chicago, the animals will keep shooting and children will continue to die. But hey, right now he's more worried about weed. Freakin' coward.
Funny how the Chicago tribune doesn't allow anymore comments on their page. Yes it was almost 11pm at night. Yes it is sad and tragic and the mother should have known better. Yes bullets do go through homes and gangways when houses are just far apart to have a sidewalk. That's why I moved out of Chicago. Every day I would hear shots and i raced to check on my kid in his room. I didn't even live in a horrible area.
So sick of innocent children dying, the violence must end...
Sad story, Chicago needs more Zimmermans to get rid of the thugs that would do this
What is a 7 year old girl doing outside selling candy at quarter to eleven at night?
stopping bullits!
My 8 year old was in bed last night at 9:30pm. If you live in a violent neighborhood, why would your 7 year old be out after dark? Selling candy?? What??
CHICAGO:
HOT and Humid with near record highs of 100-105 and lows near 80. Heat indices (Feels-like temperature) will be between 100 and 110.
Is there any need for more reasons to live outside America's major cities?
...f*ckin' ni66ers !!
how about we start prosecuting the d1rt ni66ers and their parents that can't control their kids and/or raised monsters due to their failure at parenting.......
and people wonder why there's racism....it's because you don't see stories about white's shooting down a street and killing innocent bystanders... where's these stories happen EVERY DAY in the black urban community !! I'd say f*ck'em...send em all back or throw a basketball in the middle of the group and maybe watch a game........
Sven,
You're a very delusional person brotha.
You need to take your meds on time and stop skipping them here and there. "Seriously".
I'd say give it....eeeehhh.... 15 minutes and you'll be collapsed. 20.... and you'll be deleted
Wow, racist much?? Pretty sure I've read/seen/heard plenty of stories of white people killing innocent bystanders. There's people of every race killing innocent people, completely ignorant to think otherwise.
right on.
The idiot gang members must have felt she was cutting into their drug profits. Pathetic.
Chicago, the new Detroit - and Detroit is the new Somalia.
Until the city goes after crime like it should there will be more stories like this. But in today's PC world everyone is more afraid of racial profiling than the criminals, after all it is easier to ignore it than to deal with all the lawyers.
I guess this is one community that Odumba forgot to organize.
Why are Blacks killing Blacks ? Or should we ask why are Humans killing Humans ? Why is not the Media Big on this poor little Soul like it was on the Trevon case in Florida ? Because it's about Sales not Lives !
Humans aren't killing humans to the degree that blacks are killing blacks in South Chicago.
Horrible! Punks like these only respect force! They should be laidout!!! Wheres the nation's outcry? C'mon Sharpton, or do you consider this a ligitimate kill!!
If it was a white person that shot her, Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would be all over it. But now, they don't care a bit about this little girl.
Sharpton only shows when its any other race on black shootings.
Matt.... the only person EVER to rail against the blacks killing blacks was Bill Cosby. And they castigated him for it. He was called a traitor to his race.
My guess, it would probably be "stupid" of him to jump on a story like this that isn't getting all the same media attention that the trayvon/zimmerman case got. My opinion: thats the only reason why they chose to give a lick about the trayvon case because of all the media hype. My bet, he wouldn't have cared if it hadn't got so much attention. Just like he probably won't care about this because it's not plastered on the news all over the country. People like that only care about what is going to get them their "15 mins" of fame, they don't care how they get it as long as they get it.
There is no notoriety, sensational headlines and NO $$$$$ for Sharpton and his kind when stories like this are happening.
Something is wrong with the reporting. The little angel that was killed has a different last name from the mother as well as the older brother.
all different daddies, go figure.
All hell will break loose once her father weighs in.
Is there a father in this picture?
This is so sad.
EAVERYBODY IS TOO POLITICALLY CORREC TO CALL THIS WHAT IT IS......a kid selling candy at 10:45 and playing with frends? Sorry folks, but lets say their Was NO A.C. OR WHATEVER....YOU DON'T GO ON THE 'HOOD STREETS AT THAT HOUR!! These ghetto rats are multiplying and costing others $. I am referring to the thugs that killed this little girl. Yes, this is by far and away a black issue, but any attempt to handle it is met with Jesse and Al hollering "racism!" Yes, our Prez is black(actually, half black but raised by the white side.) But, name any black majority country (we are 12-13%) or city for that matter that can even govern itself, and I want to know where it is. Every po-dunk European country was able to colonize "the mighty African Warriors" So what is the deal? Explain.......
It's going to be a long, hot summer in Hell's Kitchen...I mean Chicago.
And Mayor Emanuel is too much of a coward to deal with it. My family and I were going to run into Chcago for a long weekend next month. There's no way we're going into that pit.
Bring along some friends, preferably named Smith & Wesson.
the good thing about taking a gun when you visit Chicago is you don't have to pay for a hotel, you will get a bed and three meals a day!
What happened in Houston, TX when thousands of blacks from New Orleans fleeing hurricane Katrina landed there... crime went through the roof. South Chicago is now the new Detriot, mostly black and now the murder capital of the US thanks to young black males. Does behavior account for a legitimate reason to call into question the character of a specific ethnic group in the US or do they get a pass because they are an ethnic group and therefore it's racist on my part to bring it up in the first place? If the latter, is no criticism allowed at all?
It is not the character of a specific ethnic group, it is the character of a specific cultural group. If you think that blacks commit crime in higher numbers because of their race (their genetics), then you are a racist. If, on the other hand, you believe that I do, that they commit crimes in higher numbers because of their eroded culture, then you would not be a racist, you would be correct.
You are NOT allowed to criticize a black person for anything, any time or anywhere. IF you do you are a heinous dirty racist. IF you criticize Barrack Hussien Obama it's the same thing. All hail the commander in chief. What a joke!
Blacks love to kill each other.
Damn Lumis... I guess White Germans didn't Slaughter Six Million White German Jews.. I guess White Europeans didn't kill Millions more Africans during the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade..
I guess it was a black person involved with bombing Columbine High School.. Etc.. Etc..
Yeah... White folks never loved to kill any one including their own!..