Parents are pushing for government officials to take action to address gun violence in Chicago after a teen girl and a security guard were shot outside a school Tuesday, followed by gunfire outside another school Wednesday morning.
According to authorities, a gunman opened fire in front of McDade Elementary at approximately 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, sending parents into a panic.
“Come on, like Chicago stop! Please,” Philonise Griffin, who rushed to the school to pick up her daughter, said. “They just want to go back to school.”
The gunfire didn’t strike any students or staff, but did leave two bullet holes in a window in front of the school.
While the damage to the school was minimal, some parents fear that students could suffer mentally because of the series of shootings occurring outside of school buildings.
“I am pleading with whomever did this, this is very serious,” Harold Edwards, a concerned father, said. “It may not affect you, but it affects the school, this community and people like me who are trying to do the right thing.”
This was the second shooting near a Chicago Public Schools building in recent days. On Tuesday, school was letting out at Wendell Phillips Academy in the city’s Bronzeville neighborhood when a gunman opened fire, critically injuring a 14-year-old girl and injuring a security guard at the school.
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On Wednesday, that girl’s grandmother joined Rev. Michael Pfleger at St. Sabina Church to call on Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago officials to declare a state of emergency as part of an effort to curb gun violence.
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“These are babies shooting babies, right? I’m assuming that this baby that shot my grandbaby is crying for help, but I want to tell him that God will help you if you ask for it,” Jonice Cobb, the victim’s grandmother, said.
The group “Purpose Over Pain” is calling for the shooter to turn themselves in, and for Mayor Lori Lightfoot to form a task force as part of a broader push to curb gun violence.
“Just like you caught the looters (last summer), you can catch the shooters, so we ask that you put together this task force,” Pam Bosley, a spokesperson for the group, said.
