Some experts attribute the high numbers of children being killed to collateral damage from gunmen leaving their fingers on the triggers of automatic weapons that they have never been trained to shoot.
For example, Amaria Jones, 13, was showing her mother a dance step when a bullet tore through a window and a television set before striking the girl in the neck, killing her. The gunman had opened fire from more than a block away, the police said.
At a memorial for Sincere Gaston, a giant poster bearing the words “Enough is Enough” showed the bright-eyed toddler grasping a green-topped milk bottle.
His parents, Thomas Gaston, 27, and Ms. Miller, complained that the police treated them like suspects, even though Mr. Gaston has participated in an anti-gang program. He was the intended target of the shooting that killed his son, the police said.
Ms. Miller said that detectives initially prevented her from seeing her son, demanding that she first divulge information about who might have carried out the killing. “Have some compassion for us, it hurts,” she said.
John Catanzara, the head of the police union, defended the decision, saying that investigators needed to collect as many details as possible while events were still fresh.
On the hot, humid day the memorial was held, about 100 people gathered under a white tent erected in an empty lot, releasing a flurry of red and blue balloons in Sincere’s honor. “He lit up the room. Everybody loved him,” his mother said. “I can do nothing without that little boy. I feel lifeless, I am lifeless.”
Mitch Smith contributed reporting.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/us/chicago-shootings.html
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