2 Girls, 11 & 12, Still Fighting To Survive After Being Shot In The Head

By Stephen Gossett in News on Feb 13, 2017 4:05PM

Two young girls, ages 11 and 12, who were shot in the head in separate shootings on Saturday remain hospitalized and are fighting for their lives.

Takiya Holmes, 11, was still in critical condition and on life support at Comer Children’s Hospital on Sunday, as family gathered at her bedside, according to reports. More tests are scheduled for Monday, but the young victim—an innocent bystander, police said—had not responded to earlier tests.

"We're just praying and sitting by her bedside and talking to her and holding her hand,” Patsy Holmes, Takiya's grandmother, told ABC7. “Family members are steadily coming in and prayers are steadily going up. So we're doing the best we can at this time."

Holmes was sitting in a parked car at about 7:40 p.m. on Saturday with her mother and younger brother in the 6300 block of South King Drive, in Parkway Gardens, when she was hit in the head by a stray bullet, according to police.

Just some 30 minutes earlier, Kanari Gentry Bowers, 12, was playing basketball on a Henderson Elementary School court, when she—also not an intended target, police said—was shot in the back of the head after gunshots rang out. She also remains in critical condition, at Stroger Hospital. That shooting occurred at around 7:15 p.m. in the 1900 block of W 57th Street, in West Englewood, police said.

“Kids can’t event play in a school playground… She didn’t deserve none of this. I want some answers. Please stop; put down these guns” Kanari’s uncle, Djuan Donald, told the Tribune.

Hospital staff was unable to identify Bowers’ heartbeat at least three times since she was hospitalized and had to make efforts to revive the young victim, the Trib reports.

Assata's Daughters has established a recovery fund to help Takiya's family with financial assistance.