Two girls, 11 and 12, shot in the head on same day, same city

Two young girls, ages 11 and 12, were shot in the head in separate incidents on Saturday night in Chicago, within 30 minutes of each other.

ABC 7 reports that Kanari Bowers, 12, was playing at the Henderson Elementary School at around 7:15 p.m. when a bullet hit her in the head. The school, located in Chicago’s South Side area of 57th and Wolcott, continues to increase in gang-related activities. She was rushed to the hospital, where she remains in critical condition.

Thirty minutes later, at around 7:45 p.m., 11-year-old Takiya Holmes was sitting inside a blue minivan with her brother when she was also shot in the hand. The incident occurred in the Parkway Gardens neighborhood, off of South King Drive. She was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital. As of Sunday night, Kanari was on light support and not responding to medical tests.

“They are treating her as best as they can with all kind of aggressive measures that the hospital can do for her, but it’s grim and we want prayers to go up for her. We want whoever saw what happened to tell the police,” said Patsy Holmes, Takiya’s grandmother.

Holmes is now hoping the suspects will turn themselves in.

“My grandbaby did not deserve this. That is my only grandchild. Now she’s fighting for her life at 11 years old. That shouldn’t be.”

Neither child was intended to get shot, according to police. They were caught between gang violence. On Saturday night, Chicago police officers found numerous shell casings close to Parkway Gardens. According to the New York Times, the area is infested with members of the Gangster Disciples, an extremely violent gang reportedly connected with multiple homicides in the city.

Last year, there were around 739 murders in Chicago and more than 3,000 shootings, the highest for the city since 1997. In 2017 alone, 66 people have been murdered in Chicago.

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