CHICAGO (WLS) — A South Side community rallied Friday after two women and a young boy were killed in a shooting Thursday morning that also left two boys wounded.
The city called Friday night’s rally “Operation Wake Up.” The shooting was just one of multiple incidents across the city at the start of a violent July 4th holiday weekend.
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It was an effort to promote healing in the community one day after multiple family members here were gunned down inside of a home.
The bullet-riddled windows of the Grand Crossing home show the heartache and despair left behind after several ski mask-clad gunmen rained a barrage of gunfire on the house, Thursday morning. The shooting left two children critically hurt, killing Nakeeshia Strong, her niece, Capri Edwards, and an 8-year-old boy, Chicago police said.
In the wake of the deadly holiday shooting, Sam Binion, founder of Operation Neighborhood Safety, is set up for the city community rally, “Operation Wake Up,” near the scene at 71st Place and Woodlawn.
“We’re giving them the love that they don’t have,” Binion said. “It’s community love.”
He brought some of the 8-year-old victim’s classmates from Paul Revere Elementary School, including Ayden Dexter.
“He was like a brother to me, for real,” Dexter said. “Whenever I’m feeling down, he was always right there, like, ‘Ayden, what’s wrong?’ Man, I’m just down, for real.”
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Police said the attack was targeted, stemming from an earlier incident. Relatives of the victims said Edwards was killed while shielding her 1-year-old child from the gunfire.
“Even if there was someone killed in your family, going back to kill other people won’t bring them back,” neighbor Aaron Jenkins said.
It is a tragic sentiment Jenkins believes is falling on deaf ears in the city. He hopes the rally could piece back together his broken community as the family grieves.
On Tuesday, the city will also set up an emergency resources center at Fosco Park on the Near West Side.
So far, no one has been arrested in the case. Police continue to investigate.
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