Thanks Mr Pratt for posting this article. This is a very crucial time in our Chicagoland community. Being a kid who was raised in the Lawndale area of Chicago and escaping the brutal affects that the neighborhood alone could of had on my life is a true blessing. I was floored by the nine year old just yesterday evening that was shot to death, this is out of control and i feel like even though i no longer live within the city I want to reach out and help somehow. Im sure you remember Blair Holt, well he is my Sister N Law's 1st cousin's son and the HELL they went through alone was horrific but out of that there has been a Blair Holt Law established. So kudo's to this brother for Stepping up and giving back in a effort to make change that will stick in the community for a better quality of life. Godbless.

T.Pratt, I want to also thank you for bringing attention to the violence that is taking our babies everyday!!!!! My heart cries puddles everytime I read an article of an innocent life being taken by gang violence. I just read of another one of God's angels that was taken yesterday in broad daylight in the Englewood area, which is rated on the top 25 list of violent neighborhoods in the NATION. GOD HELP US HELP OUR FUTURE!!!!!!! I can't even finish typing because I can't stop CRYING!!!!!!

Friend recalls slain girl's last minutes
June 25, 2009 2:05 PM | No Comments
Tawanda Sterling was sitting on the bottom step of the porch watching her boyfriend and his 9-year-old daughter wash down two dogs in the evening heat, when a van slowed down.

A door opened and the shooting began.

Her boyfriend Andre Turner turned and picked up a 2-year-old girl and rushed her to the porch. His daughter Chastity ran down the driveway toward the laundry room, a cousin running behind to shield her.

But Chastity didn't make it. She collapsed on the back steps near the entrance.
As the van sped off, Sterling said she and a friend picked up Chastity and held her. They moved her onto the driveway and poured water on her to revive her and tried CPR.

"Every time she gasped for air, her neck would swell," Sterling said.

She said Chastity was shot above her shoulder blade close to her neck. Doctors told her the bullet travelled to her neck and lodged in her lungs. She died at the hospital.

This morning, Sterling sat on the same porch and cried as she looked down at the blood-splattered sidewalk.

The evening had begun like many others, she said, with the family gathered around the two-flat's porch where they often played games and just hung out. Then Sterling spotted the light green van.

"The van just pulled up by the garbage cans and started shooting," she said. "They drove up just a little bit more and started shooting again. . . It was over 20 some shots."

A neighbor, Tasha Golston, 30, said she was walking from the corner store at 75th and Stewart, on the east side of the street, when she saw people start firing at the house.
"I was right here, I had to fall on the ground."

Golston said she saw at least two men in the van wearing black bandannas up to their eyes, and dark hooded sweatshirts over their heads.

At first she thought the shots were firecrackers, but then noticed everyone started calling 911

A group from Saint Sabina's church pray in front of Chastity's home in the 7400 block of South Stewart today after going door-to-door urging residents to help stop the violence. (José M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)

Police said the shooting appeared gang-related and that Andre Turner may have been the intended target. But Sterling said she didn't know why the men opened fire at the house.

"Why would they come and shoot when there are kids out here?" Sterling said. "They don't have any respect or morals."

Mary Darke, Andre Turner's aunt, also said she didn't understand why this happened to their family.

"How would you feel if somebody destroyed your family? The only thing that's holding us together is God," Darke said.

Darke said she did not believe the shooting was gang-related. "If they feared gangs, why would they be out on the porch?" Darke said.

Neighbors said shootings have been common in the neighborhood lately.

Golston said she worries about her daughter, 12, and her sons, 5 and 1. "My babies could have been out here. They have to walk to school," Golston said."These boys out here are mad. It's something deeper than just shooting each other and killing. All of them go to school together."

A makeshift memorial on the porch included a pink pig, a pink bear and an angel.

< Hey TP,

I would like to also thank you for printing this article.Our children are in so much trouble. They are becomng more and more violent.I am so outraged.Tell me why the state claims they can't balance the budget,they claim they have no money,however they have money to install those police camera in neighborhoods at a millon dollar a pop.Now ask yourself, how would that million dollars benefit our neighborhood. ( boy/girls club, books,computers,swimming pools,new gym equip,etc.... People we need to take our streets back. We know what part the WHITE MAN,played in our destruction,now what part are WE playing?

p>Always striving !
Mel B