FOREST PARK, Ill. (AP) — Mourners said farewell Saturday to an 11-year-old Chicago girl who was killed by a stray bullet during a slumber party, a day after an attack at a church event in which a 13-year-old boy was gunned down and six other people were wounded.
Samuel Walker, who recently completed the eighth grade, was shot to death at about 6 p.m. Friday at a church-sponsored event in a vacant lot in the East Garfield Park neighborhood, authorities said.
Area children had come to the event to play games and be part of other activities. Church leader Lavieda Stewart said she saw two men standing outside a car shooting. Among the six people who were wounded were three 14-year-old boys and a 15-year-old boy.
Samuel’s aunt, Sandra Williams, said her nephew was headed to the store for a bag of chips when he was killed, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
“He was a good kid. He loved basketball and swimming,” Williams said.
Hours later on the city’s southwest side, a 3-year-old boy, Jason Areas, was shot in the abdomen outside his family’s home, police said. His aunt, Sandra Steve, said the boy had surgery on Saturday.
Meanwhile, dozens of people gathered at a church in suburban Forest Park on Saturday for the funeral of Shamiya Adams, who was killed July 18 by a stray bullet that entered a home where she and her friends were having a slumber party and preparing to make s’mores. The bullet passed through a wall before striking the girl in the head.
Loved ones remembered Shamiya as an energetic and playful child, recalling how she recently helped raise money to buy new books for a library.
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