A 10-year-old girl who was playing with two friends outside of her grandmother's home on the South Side of Chicago was one of the victims of a Sunday afternoon shooting in the Woodlawn neighborhood.
Melanie Irvin was outside with an 18-year-old woman and a 19-year-old man at about 12:50 p.m. when a gunman walked out of a vacant lot in the 1400 block of East 66th Place and began shooting in their direction, police said.
A bullet grazed Melanie's neck, and she was taken to Comer Children's Hospital in good condition, police said.
Melanie said she ran from the gunman when she heard the shots ring out, and she did not realize she had been struck by a bullet at first.
"I was running, and I jumped and I got back up and it scraped my neck," Melanie said. "I just started running, and I ran toward the church."
The other two teenagers were also struck. The 19-year-old man was critically injured after he was shot in the back, police said. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The 18-year-old woman was also shot in the right calf and taken to Northwestern in good condition.
Melanie was released from the hospital later Sunday, but the other two victims remain hospitalized.
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"My child is blessed, very blessed," Melanie's mother said. "The Lord was not ready to take her away."
Melanie and the 18-year-old woman were not the intended targets, according to police.
