Innocent 8th Grader Slain in Logan Square Park

By Laura Oppenheimer in News on Jun 27, 2007 2:00PM

Schanna Gayden, a thirteen-year-old honors student and innocent bystander, was killed yesterday as she bought watermelon at a vendor's cart in a park just blocks from her home. This morning, charges are pending against a 19-year-old gang member likely from either the Imperial Gangsters and Spanish Cobras, the two gangs that have previously sparred over the turf in Logan Square

As a press conference yesterday, a visibly upset Mayor Daley said yesterday, "Parents have to go into the bedrooms. Find out whether their sons or daughters have guns in their room. Find out whether their sons or daughters are palling around with gangbangers on a block or in a community... . Parents have to do this. They should prevent crime." He repeated his frustration that gun control isn't a priority in Springfield or Washington, and called for the parents of the 19-year-old held in the shooting to stand up and be held accountable.

Schanna is second CPS student killed since the summer began, and the 34th overall. In 2006, there were 201 gang-related murders; through May of this year, there were 49.

The Trib echoed Daley in today's editorial, with the headline "The Summer Killing Season":

With guns so plentiful and common sense in such short supply, Chicago needs all the summer safety its citizens can muster.

But they won't muster that safety by waiting for police officers to deliver it, like ice cream, to every intersection. That's not possible.

Citizens won't have a safer Chicago until they're willing to crack down on the gang members on their streets -- or in their own houses. Until that happens, the summer killing season will continue. Sunscreen won't help.

Courtesy image.