Following the fatal shooting of a 7-year-old girl in a McDonald's drive-thru and other recent incidents involving children, some activists and community leaders are wondering, once again, what can be done to protect kids from gun violence in Chicago.
Jaslyn Adams, who was nicknamed "Pinky" was killed in a hail of bullets Sunday as she and her father waited in the drive-thru of a Homan Square McDonald's.
"I think "Pinky" was the intended target, I honestly do think that...just to get at my son," said Lawnda McMullen, Jasyln's grandmother.
Chicago police say Jontae Adams, the girl's father, has gang ties that may have prompted the attack. A suspect in Jaslyn's murder was shot by police on the Eisenhower Expressway Thursday following a chase and attempted carjacking, however police believe more people may have been involved.
Tio Hardiman, a Chicago anti-violence activist, said he has seen too many cases of children being caught up in their parents' lifestyles.
"I know a lot of mothers who have lost their kids to gun violence, I mean babies and young people," he said. "...Some of these mothers can't even stand up anymore they are so distraught."
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Chicago Police Department Supt. David Brown issued an unprecedented warning about such situations during a news conference Thursday.
"Don't put your loved ones in the car with you, your mothers, your wives," he said. "People who have nothing to do with the choices you made, but they end up being the victims of your choices."
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Hardiman, who heads up the peace initiative "Violence Interrupters" says the message from Brown should be sent to young men through social media.
"The word needs to go out among the young people in Chicago, they should put a moratorium on the shooting of women and kids, period. The young people must do that. That's something they must do."
Activists also believe more needs to be done, including placing additional resources in the community.
"We need to fight this stuff, we really do," said McMullen, Jaslyn's grandmother. "To come together and take some kind of action towards it... gun violence. Because these kids are getting the bad result of gun violence."
