Seven-year-old shot dead in Chicago

[neon]

The girl's name was Heaven. She was killed yesterday.

[sammyrock]

Shame... this has to stop.

[cleodine velvet jackson]

Damn shame, the Heaven and her mother were just selling lemonade!!!

"The city this week gave a $1 million grant to an intervention group, CeaseFire, which hires former gang members as counselors who try to interrupt the cycles of revenge killings " (see story below). When has this EVER deterred crime? Just a waste of money!!!


http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...85R1KV20120628

7-year-old girl named Heaven latest Chicago murder victim

By Andrew Stern
CHICAGO | Thu Jun 28, 2012 4:30pm EDT
(Reuters) - Seven-year-old Heaven Sutton was selling cold drinks and candy at a street stand with her mother when she was shot to death, becoming the 253rd victim this year of Chicago's surging murder rate, police said on Thursday.

Sutton and her mother, Ashake Banks, were about to close up their stand on Wednesday night when two men approached and began shooting. Heaven was shot in the chest, and a 19-year-old man standing nearby was wounded in the leg, police said.

"This is not about crime. This is about values. Take your gang conflict away from a 7-year-old," Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel angrily told reporters.

"You have a 7-year-old selling lemonade," he said. "Where were you raised and who raised you? Stay away from the kids."

Emanuel pledged to make Chicago's streets safe when he became mayor last year.

Chicago Police Chief Garry McCarthy, who has sought to counter a 37 percent rise in murders so far this year, said police had strong leads in the case but no arrests had been made.

Most of the 253 murders so far this year in the nation's third-largest city have occurred in impoverished neighborhoods on the South and West Sides.

Frequent shootings in Heaven Sutton's West Side neighborhood had prompted her to plead with her mother to move.

"'Mom, let's move, I want to move, Mom, I'm so anxious'," Sutton had begged her mother, Banks said in an interview with local radio. Sutton was excited about an upcoming family vacation, and wanted them to move when they returned.

Banks urged the killer to turn himself in, saying of her daughter, "she didn't have to die because he was trying to kill somebody else."

The city this week gave a $1 million grant to an intervention group, CeaseFire, which hires former gang members as counselors who try to interrupt the cycles of revenge killings.

Analysts have said a number of factors may be at work, including high jobless rates, a splintering of street gangs fighting over turf and drug-dealing, and unusually warm weather that has drawn people outside and into the line of fire.

Federal law enforcement agencies are also active in the effort to combat the epidemic of street violence, said Thomas Ahearn, an agent in the Chicago office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

"There's no way of knowing how many guns are in this area," Ahearn said, adding all seized guns are tracked back to their source and their last legal owner.

Straw purchases, in which someone buys guns legally then resells them to gang members, are a big problem, Ahearn said. The third-largest source of guns used in crimes in Chicago after Illinois and neighboring Indiana is Mississippi, where numerous Chicago gangs have contacts, he said.

(Editing by James Dalgleish)

[JMJ]

Damn shame, the Heaven and her mother were just selling lemonade!!!

"The city this week gave a $1 million grant to an intervention group, CeaseFire, which hires former gang members as counselors who try to interrupt the cycles of revenge killings " (see story below). When has this EVER deterred crime? Just a waste of money!!!


http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...85R1KV20120628

7-year-old girl named Heaven latest Chicago murder victim

By Andrew Stern
CHICAGO | Thu Jun 28, 2012 4:30pm EDT
(Reuters) - Seven-year-old Heaven Sutton was selling cold drinks and candy at a street stand with her mother when she was shot to death, becoming the 253rd victim this year of Chicago's surging murder rate, police said on Thursday.

Sutton and her mother, Ashake Banks, were about to close up their stand on Wednesday night when two men approached and began shooting. Heaven was shot in the chest, and a 19-year-old man standing nearby was wounded in the leg, police said.

"This is not about crime. This is about values. Take your gang conflict away from a 7-year-old," Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel angrily told reporters.

"You have a 7-year-old selling lemonade," he said. "Where were you raised and who raised you? Stay away from the kids."

Emanuel pledged to make Chicago's streets safe when he became mayor last year.

Chicago Police Chief Garry McCarthy, who has sought to counter a 37 percent rise in murders so far this year, said police had strong leads in the case but no arrests had been made.

Most of the 253 murders so far this year in the nation's third-largest city have occurred in impoverished neighborhoods on the South and West Sides.

Frequent shootings in Heaven Sutton's West Side neighborhood had prompted her to plead with her mother to move.

"'Mom, let's move, I want to move, Mom, I'm so anxious'," Sutton had begged her mother, Banks said in an interview with local radio. Sutton was excited about an upcoming family vacation, and wanted them to move when they returned.

Banks urged the killer to turn himself in, saying of her daughter, "she didn't have to die because he was trying to kill somebody else."

The city this week gave a $1 million grant to an intervention group, CeaseFire, which hires former gang members as counselors who try to interrupt the cycles of revenge killings.

Analysts have said a number of factors may be at work, including high jobless rates, a splintering of street gangs fighting over turf and drug-dealing, and unusually warm weather that has drawn people outside and into the line of fire.

Federal law enforcement agencies are also active in the effort to combat the epidemic of street violence, said Thomas Ahearn, an agent in the Chicago office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

"There's no way of knowing how many guns are in this area," Ahearn said, adding all seized guns are tracked back to their source and their last legal owner.

Straw purchases, in which someone buys guns legally then resells them to gang members, are a big problem, Ahearn said. The third-largest source of guns used in crimes in Chicago after Illinois and neighboring Indiana is Mississippi, where numerous Chicago gangs have contacts, he said.

(Editing by James Dalgleish)

Here's part of the problem: A 7 year old selling lemonade at 10:45pm on the West Side. With or without parental supervision, the child is automatically at risk. Do 7 year old's NEED to be outside that late? Especially in an area KNOWN for late night violence?......JMJ

[cleodine velvet jackson]

Here's part of the problem: A 7 year old selling lemonade at 10:45pm on the West Side. With or without parental supervision, the child is automatically at risk. Do 7 year old's NEED to be outside that late? Especially in an area KNOWN for late night violence?......JMJ

Around 10pm tonight, a cool breeze was blowing and some children were on the steps with their parents eating ice cream, water ice and popsicles. However, my neighborhood is safe and neighbors look out for one another.

Although I understand your point(s), they were closing down the stand. Yet, I CANNOT blame the parents of the victim...I BLAME THE MONSTERS destroying neighborhoods and lives.

[JMJ]

Around 10pm tonight, a cool breeze was blowing and some children were on the steps with their parents eating ice cream, water ice and popsicles. However, my neighborhood is safe and neighbors look out for one another.

Although I understand your point(s), they were closing down the stand. Yet, I CANNOT blame the parents of the victim...I BLAME THE MONSTERS destroying neighborhoods and lives.

Here's the difference: Her neighborhood is a war zone. The warmer the weather, the more they shoot. Nothing nice or peaceful about that scenario. When I was 7, I was in bed by 10:45pm, not outside......JMJ

[lvdphse]

Cleo I feel you all day in this in regards to J's comment but I think I can speak for him (if not I'm sure he will say so lol) in saying he is just as appalled and not insensitive to the fact that a mother and daughter cant sell lemonade on the block regardless of the time of day. If J didn't know this hood I would have issue with his remark as well but this is NOT the spot to be out at night during the summer especially considering how things have been going thus far.

This DOES NOT change the fact that this precious girl is THE VICTIM in some straight mindless BS but if you know this area you can't leave out questioning why they would be out on the block at this time.

As a parent we try to do all we can to reduce the risk of harm to our children. Eliminating it is not possible short of locking them in the closet. On the streets of Chi after dark is increasing those odds, depending onthe hood you out in will increase them even further. Again the child is not to blame, nor is the mother as far as I'm concerned but clearly extreme diligence wasn't adhered to on her part in an area where it is required.

I remember the block I stayed on (71st Harvard) before I moved to the burbs stayed hot all summer. I can her my moms like it was yesterday, "get your ass away from the window". This is inside my house mind you, not even outside. We lived on the third floor and if cats didn't have anyone to shoot at they would just shoot in the sky. It really sucks that this is a fact of life for some people.

[Traxsource FL]

The girl's name was Heaven. She was killed yesterday.

Damn, this is crazy!