A Chicago mother has been left with an unbearable loss after her only son, a 9-year-old, was fatally shot Friday night, becoming the latest young victim of gun violence in the city.
Janari Ricks, an honor roll student at Ruben Salazer Elementary on the city's Near North Side, was shot and killed at around 6:45 p.m. in the Cabrini-Green neighborhood.
Ricks' mother, Jalisa Ford, said her son was playing with a friend when he was shot in the chest, just feet away from his home.
"I just go the call that he was laying out here, and I immediately came out here, and I watched everything, every moment," a visibly emotional Ford said.
On Saturday, Ford sat on the sidewalk where just one day ago she kissed her only son - who she described as smart and energetic - goodbye.
"Now I'm burying my son," she said. "I gotta relive this all over again. He [is] all I had. I don't have nobody. My son is gone."
According to Chicago police, the gunman walked up to several people, including the nine-year-old, firing a number of rounds that struck the boy multiple times.
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Brian McDermott, chief of operations for the Chicago Police Department, said investigators believe the victim was the "unintended target," but it remains unclear who the intended target was.
