Staying indoors no protection for Chicago girl killed by a stray bullet

Not being allowed to play outside was not enough to protect 11-year-old Shamiya Adams from being killed by a stray bullet shot through an open window and into a Chicago home on Friday.

An 11-year-old girl was killed Friday in Chicago when she was struck by a stray bullet fired into her friend’s home during a slumber party, reports the Miami Herald.

The victim, Shamiya Adams, was not allowed to play outside because her mother was afraid of Chicago’s street violence, said Lourene Miller, the great-grandmother of the child. If Adams was going to hang out with friends, she had to remain indoors, said Ms. Miller.

“My granddaughter (the girl’s mother, Shaneetha Goodloe) would cry every time she would see a child killed on the news (and) Shamiya was never just out,” said Miller.

Ms. Miller said her great-granddaughter had recently had a friend over for a sleepover and on Friday night it was the other girl’s turn to host a sleepover, according to the Herald. “My granddaughter dropped her off, kissed her on the head and told her she loved her,” said Miller.

Miss Adams was one of four people killed by gunfire in Chicago since Friday night, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Thirty-two others were wounded. Miller said her family did all it could to protect the little girl, yet must now make plans to bury her, reports the Herald.

As of Sunday afternoon, no arrests have been made for the Friday shooting, said police spokesperson Janel Sedevic. Sedevic declined to say whether there were any suspects. Investigators believe the fatal shot was fired by someone apparently aiming at a rival in a gang dispute. The shooter missed, and the bullet went through an open window of the house, pierced a wall and struck Miss Adams in the back of the head.

“It is just terrible out here,” said Miller. “These young guys out here are shooting and a lot of times they miss their target and they always hit somebody innocent.”

Chicago was the only city in the nation to record more than 500 homicides in 2012.