Police Reveal More Info In CTA Shooting

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Oct 7, 2008 2:00PM

Police have revealed more information on Sunday night's CTA shooting that left an innocent 17-year-old dead. Kiyanna Salter was sitting with her cousin, Jasmine Wilcox, on the No. 71 bus Sunday, talking to a man on the bus the two had just met. At that point, another man accidentally touched the man's hand hand as he was exiting the bus. And that's all it took. The two men argued briefly and both flashed guns in an apparent (and now traditional) show of machismo. As the man exiting the bus finally got off, he turned and fired into the bus. But instead of striking his intended target, the bullets hit Kiyanna, killing her instantly. Jasmine said, "I didn't know it was her who got shot until they said somebody got shot. I happened to look up, and it was just her laying there. I just went to her and grabbed her hand. I just grabbed her hand."

Now, as Kayanna's family deals with this unspeakable tragedy, police begin searching for the shooter and have released stills from the bus's surveillance camera (pictured right). Kiyanna was staying with Jasmine and her family while she finished her studies at Julian High School; her mother had recently moved to Bartlett. Kiyanna's aunt, Tara Bruce, said:

It's too much. It's too much. Nobody deserves to bury their child for a senseless crime because you're angry at somebody...[It's wrong] to pick up a gun and decide to fire it and you don't know where those bullets are going to land...My niece was not only beautiful on the outside, she was truly a beautiful young lady on the inside. She wanted the best for everybody.

We know we've complained here before about the cramped conditions of the CTA before, wedged into rush hour Red lines, but this is abso-fucking-lutely ridiculous. An accidental touch? Let it go, just let it fucking go. Here's hoping they catch the shooter and that in some form or fashion, both men involved are held responsible. If you have any information on the shooting, contact Chicago Police or Cook County Crime Stoppers at (800) 535-7867.