CHICAGO– A teenager has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a 7-year-old boy in Chicago who was not the target of the shooting earlier in the week, police said.
“There is no excuse for this violence,” Police Supt. Larry Snelling said Friday night.
Jai’mani Amir Rivera was killed Tuesday in front of an apartment building where he lived in the west of the city. The video shows shots fired about 300 feet away, said Antoinette Ursitti, chief of detectives.
More than 100 people gathered near the scene Wednesday evening for a balloon release and to mourn the loss of Chicago’s eighth youth, aged 15 or younger, to be shot to death in 2024, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
“All I’m asking for is justice,” said Jai’mani’s aunt, Vanessa Rivera.
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with first-degree murder as an adult. A court hearing was scheduled for Saturday.
“It is unfortunate that a mother and father, who are doing what they are supposed to do for their 7 year old and raising their child, that their child cannot even go out on the sidewalk without being hit by gunfire. random fire,” Snelling said.
ABC News
