Chicago News Girl Shot With Baby in Hand
People set up a memorial for 8-year-quondam Melissa Ortega at the corner of W. 26th St. and S. Pulaski Road in Niggling Village Monday, near where she was fatally shot Saturday equally she walked to Walgreens with her female parent. The suspected shooter and driver were in custody Tuesday, police said. | Anthony Vazquez/Lord's day-Times
Equally a 16-twelvemonth-one-time boy was charged with fatally shooting an 8-year-old girl in Lilliputian Hamlet, the kid's mother said she has already forgiven the suspect and called him a victim, also.
"To the aggressor, I forgive you," Araceli Leanos said in a argument read at a news briefing announcing the charges in the murder of Melissa Ortega. "You were a victim, likewise. As a 16-year-one-time, the community failed you, but like it failed my precious infant.
"Although I do promise that in the many years yous spend in prison you lot get time to reverberate on your actions because you took away the virtually valuable thing I had in my life, my princess Melissa."
Her words came after Chicago Police force Supt. David Brown detailed the charges confronting the boy and a man accused of driving the getaway automobile on Saturday afternoon forth busy 26th Street.
Xavier Guzman
Chicago constabulary
Brown said the shooting occurred later on Xavier Guzman, 27, and the teen spotted three rival gang members standing at the corner of 26th Street and Komensky Artery presently before iii p.thousand.
Guzman pulled into an alley and the boy, dressed all in black, got out and opened burn. Melissa was crossing the street with her female parent and was struck in the caput. She collapsed as she ran with her mother, holding hands.
One of the gang members was hit in the back as he too ran away, Brown said. The male child ran back into the motorcar which sped off.
Brown, disclosing new details, said the gunfire too hit a car but a man and his nine-twelvemonth-old kid were non injured.
Cook Canton State's Attorney Kim Foxx, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Constabulary Supt. David Brown walk to a press conference at the CPD headquarters in the Bronzeville neighborhood, Wednesday afternoon, January. 26, 2022, where officials announced charges against suspects in the fatal shooting of eight-year-sometime Melissa Ortega.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
The superintendent said investigators were able to piece together the events through police and private cameras. Guzman was arrested Mon after investigators pulled over a Toyota Camry believed to take been used in the shooting.
Guzman was behind the bicycle and a loaded gun was found in the commuter's side door, according to a police force report. Brown said the gun matched the one used in the shooting.
The boy, who hasn't been identified, was arrested a twenty-four hour period afterwards. Both face murder, attempted murder and unlawful use of a weapon charges, with the teen charged as an adult.
Courtroom records indicate Guzman was arrested twice, about three weeks autonomously, on low-level drug possession charges in May 2017, but charges were dismissed in both cases. During the news briefing, Cook County Country'southward Chaser Kim Foxx also confirmed the teenager has a criminal tape but said details won't be disclosed until his bail hearing Thursday, when Guzman is also expected in court.
"Our urban center has been shaken and no one can make sense of this tragedy," said Dark-brown, who called Melissa "a precious piffling girl" who represented "the innocence and potential of every child in Chicago."
GoFundMe
Melissa was a educatee at Zapata Academy in the neighborhood, and her family unit had recently moved here from Mexico. Earlier in the calendar week, the family unit said she had come to this country to alive "the American Dream" and became a victim of "American Violence."
The mother'southward statement was read by Matt DeMateo, pastor of New Life Community Church in Petty Village. "We should exist filled with sadness but anger, as well," her statement read. "How is it possible that a little girl dies in wide daylight?"
Earlier in the week, the family released a statement calling for justice and noted that "likewise often nosotros hear news of shootings across Chicago, this continuous activity makes u.s.a. habituated to these types of scenes. That is NOT something nosotros should have to be accustomed to. Delight don't allow her die in vain. No more innocent kids should be killed. Mayor Lightfoot needs to make Chicago safe."
Lightfoot, likewise speaking at the news conference, acknowledged the pervasive fear in Lilliputian Hamlet and the concern that "gangs take taken over." Saying the neighborhood has seen "too much heartbreak," she noted that city officials and community leaders must work "to bring peace there once and for all."
As a mother, Lightfoot said it was hard to imagine Leanos' pain, at one point wiping tears from her face. "Nothing tin bring dorsum her life, taken far too soon," The mayor said, adding that she hoped the charges brings "some measure out of solace."
A funeral is planned for Melissa this calendar week, and the family plans a burial in United mexican states.
A GoFundMe for Ortega's funeral expenses raised more than $70,000, more triple its original goal of $20,000. She will be buried in her hometown in United mexican states, according to the page.
Source: https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2022/1/26/22901879/little-village-shooting-melissa-ortega
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