Shamiya Adams | Homicide Watch Chicago

PHOTO GALLERY: Funeral for 11-year-old Shamiya Adams

Michael Lansu — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 07:35:17 -0500

PHOTOS BY JESSICA KOSCIELNIAK
Chicago Sun-Times

Shamiya Adams, 11, was fatally shot July 19 when an errant bullet entered a West Garfield Park home where she was attending a sleepover party. She was laid to rest Saturday.

Tevin Lee, 18, charged in shooting death of Shamiya Adams

Craig Newman — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 09:51:54 -0500

Tevin Lee / Photo from Chicago Police

BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

Even before Tevin Lee fired at a group of boys in West Garfield Park, a friend told Lee the rival he hoped to punish wasn’t there, Cook County prosecutors said.

The Gangster Disciple didn’t care, later telling someone he “thought he shot one of those bitch ass n------,” Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Mack said.

But Lee, 18, didn’t wound any of the boys on the night of July 18, Mack said.

Instead, an errant bullet entered a nearby home where 11-year-old Shamiya Adams was preparing to make s’mores with her friends during a slumber party in the 3900 block of West Gladys Avenue.

Shamiya was hit in the right side of her skull and died the next morning.

Lee, a graduate of Crane High School, fired his gun in retaliation for a fight between two 14-year-olds earlier in the day, police said.

A boy had told Lee that he had been attacked and pushed off his bike by two others near the Gladys Avenue address, Mack said in court Friday.

The boy also told his brother, prompting the brother — also a Gangster Disciple — and a cousin to join Lee and the boy to a vacant lot where the group of youth had gathered.

Despite being told the people who attacked his friend were not there, Lee “drew a handgun and fired three to four shots,” Mack said.

Lee, of the 600 block of South Lawndale Avenue, allegedly admitted to someone that he had gotten rid of the gun and was later identified by several witness in a line-up and photo array.

An assistant public defender said Lee volunteers in an anti-violence group.

He also played basketball and football at Crane and was planning to attend Harold Washington College in the fall, defense attorney Kelly McCarthy said.

Judge Laura Sullivan ordered Lee held without bond.

Lee’s godfather, Wallace Bryrant, said he thinks another person involved in the fight pulled the trigger.

Shamiya Adams / Family photo

“I want to know the truth,” Bryant said following Friday’s court hearing.

Bryant said Lee lived with him but moved out to live with his mom in June because he didn’t want to follow his 9 p.m. curfew.

Lee has a tattoo of hands clasped in prayer on his left arm, according to a police report.

Shamiya Adams' family seeks help for funeral

Craig Newman — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 15:20:40 -0500

Shamiya Adams' family is asking for help from the community to bury their daughter. The 11-year-old girl was killed after being hit in the head by a randomly fired bullet Friday night.

The family is seeking $5,000 in donations to help with the cost of the funeral, said Nannette Dailey, the girl’s grandmother. “We’re trying to do whatever we can to make sure my granddaughter can be put away decent,” the grieving woman said.

You can donate to the family through this site.

The Chicago Police are talking to a person of interest in the case, but no arrests have been made yet and no charges have been pressed.

Mayor Emanuel visits slain girl’s mom for a second time Tuesday night

Michael Lansu — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 07:47:35 -0500

Scene where Shamiya Adams was killed / Photo by Alex Wroblewski

BY BECKY SCHLIKERMAN
Chicago Sun-Times

Mayor Rahm Emanuel visited with Shaneetha Goodloe, the mother of murdered 11-year-old Shamiya Adams, for a second time Tuesday evening as police continued to investigate the high-profile shooting.

The mayor “wanted to go check in on her and to again let her know the entire city is thinking of them,” said Kelley Quinn, Emanuel’s spokeswoman.

Shamiya and her friends were about to make s’mores in the microwave before the fatal shot rang out Friday night.

She was at a sleepover in a West Garfield Park home when a gunman outside fired an errant shot that struck her in the head. She died the next morning. Emanuel visited her family on Saturday.

WMAQ-Channel 5 reports that investigators were speaking to at least one person of interest in the case. But police would not confirm that anyone was in custody Tuesday night.

Shamiya’s family declined to comment Tuesday night.

-- Contributing:Alex Wroblewski

Cousin: ‘I’ll miss how she used to dance and sing’

Michael Lansu — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 14:26:27 -0500

Shamiya Adams' mother Shaneetha Goodloe (right) weeps at a vigil

BY MITCH DUDEK AND BRIAN SLODYSKO
Chicago Sun-Times

On Sunday afternoon, mourners called on God, the mayor, absentee parents and police to help stop gun violence two days after a stray bullet entered a West Side home where 11-year-old Shamiya Adams was attending a slumber party. She was shot in the head and died.

The girl’s mother, Shaneetha Goodloe, wept as family members held her at a vigil steps away from where her daughter was shot Friday night on the 3900 block of West Gladys in the West Garfield Park neighborhood.

Shamiya’s twin brother stayed close to family members at the service. The boy’s aunt, Renee Williams, said he’s devastated. “We’re going to have to wrap our arms around each other and draw strength from each other,” she said.

Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) reiterated that there was an $8,000 reward for information leading to the shooter, and he struggled to explain his emotions.

“She was doing what children should do, and it’s tough. I just don’t know how to describe it. It’s tough,” he said.

Sharonda Jones, who was hosting the sleepover and was about to microwave gooey marshmallow s’mores when the bullet was fired, stopped wandering the crowd of mourners outside her house for a moment Sunday to reflect. She said she’s angry and wants her best friend back.

“She treated me like a real sister,” said Sharonda, 11, who attended Melody Elementary School with Shamiya. “I’m going to really, really miss her.”

Sharonda described the bloody moments after the fatal gunshot.

“We started screaming. We started jumping up and down and going crazy,” she said, referring to her sleepover pals. “I want the shooter arrested for the rest of his life.”

Shamiya’s cousin, Jarias Boose, 10, also attended the vigil.

“I want to say that I love her, and I always will,” he said. “I’ll miss how she used to dance and sing. And she used to eat a lot. Like when we had pizza, she’d have more pizza than me.”

A group of motorcyclists from the Chicago Ruff Ryders club who attended Sunday’s vigil locked arms to form a circle around the family as the crowd, numbering over 200 people, prayed. After a closing prayer, members of the group revved their engines and each biker held up one hand to honor Shamiya.

Earlier Sunday at a separate memorial service, Shamiya’s pastor said words alone could not accurately capture how “despicable” and “senseless” her death was.

“I don’t think you can have words to phrase it, to talk about how despicable it is,” the Rev. George W. Daniels said at First Baptist Congregational Church.

Several of Shamiya’s friends sobbed at the front of the church as the congregation prayed for them.

Speaking to reporters, Daniels lamented Shamiya’s death.

“Children should have hope, they should have dreams,” he said. “It’s bad enough for gang-bangers to be shooting up each other — but when our babies are being killed, there’s something horrific about that.

Shamiya Adams / Family photo

He called on leaders at the federal and local level to enact stronger gun control measures.

“This act of violence — people having handguns and destroying the lives of others — it doesn’t make sense,” Daniels said. “Something has to be done about this gun control.”

The bullet — fired by a gunman in the street outside Friday night — flew across a vacant, grassy lot, through an open window and then a wall, striking Shamiya in the head, authorities said.

And just like that, Adams became the latest in a long line of child murder victims caught in the crossfire of Chicago gun violence.

“Every time we have a child that gets killed, they have signs that say ‘Don’t shoot, I want to grow up.’ Well, they mean that,” Shamiya’s great-grandmother Lourene Miller said Saturday night as about 150 weeping mourners gathered to pray at the murder scene.

On Sunday, police had made no arrests but they think the shooting was spurred by a gang-related drug-trafficking dispute.

The gunman fired from either a vacant lot or a building just southeast of where Shamiya was killed, said Harrison District Cmdr. Glenn Evans, who vowed that his officers will find the killer.

Shamiya was the 34th child victim of homicide in Chicago this year, adding her name to a depressingly long list that in recent years included innocents such as Hadiya Pendleton and Jonylah Watkins.

-- Contributing: Becky Schlikerman

PHOTO GALLERY: Police investigate after Shamiya Adams, 11, was fatally shot in West Garfield Park

Michael Lansu — Sat, 19 Jul 2014 11:00:53 -0500

PHOTOS BY ALEX WROBLEWSKI
For Chicago Sun-Times

Shamiya Adams, 11, was fatally shot Friday night when a bullet went into a home in the 3900 block of West Gladys Avenue in West Garfield Park.

Shamiya Adams, 11, shot dead in West Garfield Park

Michael Lansu — Sat, 19 Jul 2014 10:31:46 -0500

BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA
Chicago Sun-Times

An 11-year-old girl died hours after being shot in her head Friday night in the West Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side, officials said.

Shamiya Adams was shot about 9:35 p.m. in the 3900 block of West Gladys Avenue, officials said.

She was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. The girl had surgery early Saturday morning but died hours later.

Shamiya had been placed on a breathing machine, family members said.

Neighbors said the girl was apparently playing inside a home when a stray bullet struck the youngster. Some family members said she was at a friend’s sleepover party in a bedroom when a bullet went through the window.

“If you can’t even be at home, where can you be safe?” said Terrence Redmond, a 32-year-old cousin.

But the girl’s aunt, Trenise Lyons, said Shamiya was with other children on the porch of a friend’s home when she was wounded after some males were firing shots in the area. Lyons, 32, also said Shamiya was at a sleepover.

Shamiya has two brothers — one is a twin, while the other is a teen, Lyons said.

“She was just a baby,” Lyons said. “She didn’t deserve this.”

Earlier Saturday, Shamiya’s great-grandmother, who joined about 20 other relatives in the Mount Sinai waiting room, pointed out the girl’s twin brother fighting to stay awake in his chair.

“He said he wasn’t gonna sleep until he saw his sister,” said the great-grandmother, who declined to give her name.

On Friday afternoon, three people, including a 12-year-old girl, were shot in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.

A man, a woman and the girl were on the street in the 700 block of North Ridgeway Avenue about 3:30 p.m. when someone approached on foot and fired at them, police said.

The 33-year-old woman was shot just above her right eye, while the 12-year-old girl suffered a graze wound to the left foot, police said. Both were taken in to Stroger Hospital.

The man, 44, suffered a graze wound to the calf and was treated at the scene, police said.

-- Contributing: Reema Amin and Luke Wilusz