Teen Girl Who Performed At Inauguration Killed Near Her School

By Samantha Abernethy in News on Jan 30, 2013 3:55PM

A 15-year-old girl was shot and killed in Kenwood Tuesday afternoon, just a week after she performed at President Barack Obama's second inauguration. Hadiya Pendleton, 15, was huddled under a canopy with about a dozen other teens taking shelter from the rain at a park blocks away from King College Prep High School, where she was a student. Police say around 2:30 p.m., a man jumped a fence, ran toward the group, opened fire then got into a car and sped away.

Hadiya was shot in the back and died at the hospital. Another student, Lawrence Sellers, 17, was shot in the leg and remains in serious condition.

Police say Hadiya was "an unintended target," and other teens under the same canopy were known gang members had no gang ties. Police say no one in the group stayed to help or wait for the police.

Hadiya was a majorette with the King College Prep band and drill team, which performed at inaugural events. Vivian Gordon Harsh Park, where she was killed, is about a mile away from President Obama's Kenwood home.

“As usual, the bad guy aims, but he never hits the other bad guy . . . He hits the one that hurts the most to lose,” said Chicago Police Officer Damon Stewart, 36, Hadiya's godfather. “I changed her diapers, I played with her growing up. My heart is broken.”