CHICAGO (AP) — The last day of 6-year-old Arianna Gibson's life was spent doing what she loved best: playing outside with friends and bragging about how excited she was to start school.
Arianna died early Sunday after shots were fired
into the Chicago home where she was staying with her grandmother, a visit she
made especially so she could attend a back-to-school block party.
"She was always coming to her grandma's,"
said her grandmother, Christine "C.C." Collins. "She was a
really sweet baby."
Chicago authorities said Arianna suffered two
gunshot wounds — to the chest and arm — and was pronounced dead at a hospital
around 7 a.m. Two teenagers, both 17-year-old family friends, were also injured
after at least one gunman fired through the front window of the brick
single-family home. Police said it was unclear if the child was a target.
Arianna had been sleeping on a couch when the
shooting took place.
She would have started first grade on Monday and
was eagerly anticipating classes, said her mother Demitta Collins, especially
since Arianna would get to be at school for the whole day for the first time.
"She bragged, 'I'm going to be gone all day,
gone from 8 to 2," her mother said.
The shooting on a quiet residential block of the
city's impoverished Englewood neighborhood happened just hours after neighbors
held the peaceful block party where friends and family donated school supplies.
Arianna — who wore her hair that day in braids with
pink and yellow barrettes — was among the children who played outside.
Neighbors parked their cars at the end of the block
to keep out traffic. Grills were freely stationed on the street, along with
card tables and chairs. Children drew chalk drawings on the sidewalks. Some
danced to music — from Aretha Franklin to Busta Rhymes — which blared from speakers
another neighbor had set out in the yard.
Arianna, who chit-chatted with friends and her
grandmother outside their home, practiced twirls.
The party went into the evening. Just hours after
the neighborhood streets had been cleaned up, residents reported hearing
multiple gunshots around 6 a.m.
Christine Collins said the sound woke her up and
she went to the front room.
"I saw my grandbaby, she had fallen out of
bed," Collins described through sobs.
Chicago police spokesman John Mirabelli said at
least one gunman fired shots through a window. No one was in custody Sunday.
"Detectives are still looking at a
motive," said Robert Perez, another police spokesman.
The 17-year-old girl suffered a gunshot wound to
the leg, and the 17-year-old boy was shot in his side. The teens were
hospitalized and reported in good condition Sunday, Perez said.
Word of the shooting came on the heels of another
recent killing of a child on the city's South Side. Earlier this month, a
13-year-old playing basketball in park died after a shooting. Police have said
they don't believe the boy was intended target.
Arianna's mother said funeral arrangements were
pending. She remembered her daughter Sunday as a "lovely little
person," who loved visits to the candy store.
On Sunday, the glass of Collins' front window had a
jagged hole in it. A sticker was still pasted to the front door, advertising a
slogan for the Chicago anti-violence group CeaseFire: "Don't Shoot. I Want
To Grow Up."
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
(AP Photo/Sophia
Tareen)
