Charlez Blog

15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, an honor student who had just performed at President Obama’s inaugural, was gunned down Tuesday afternoon near the high school she attended.

A 15-year-old Chicago honour student who participated in inaugural events celebrating President Obama's re-election was fatally shot Tuesday [Jan. 29] just blocks from her school.

Hadiya Pendleton was among approximately a dozen teens taking cover from the rain under a canopy in a local park at 2:30 p.m. when a gunman jumped a fence and opened fire, a Chicago police spokesman told the Daily News on Wednesday.

Pendleton and other King College Prep students had been dismissed from school early due to exams. She was with other members of the school's volleyball team, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday.

The gunshots sent the entire group running out of the park in a panic, authorities said. Pendleton and a 17-year-old boy were hit and collapsed about one block away. Pendleton was shot once in the back and later died at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital. The wounded boy was in serious condition Tuesday night.

A third victim, a 17-year-old boy, was grazed in the foot. He was treated and released from the hospital.

Most of the teens with Pendleton at the time of the shooting were believed to be gang members and left the scene, authorities said. Pendleton did not have any gang affiliation, a police spokesman confirmed to the Daily News.

Source: Daily News