Tag:murder

A casket holding the body of Hadiya Pendleton's is moved to a hearse after her funeral in Chicago, February 9, 2013. Pendleton, 15, was fatally shot on Jan. 29 as she and her friends shielded themselves from rain under a canopy in a Chicago park in what police say was a case of mistaken identity in a gang turf war. Pendleton, a sophomore at Martin Luther King Jr. College Prep, had performed with her school band eight days earlier at President Barack Obama's inauguration. A $40,000 reward has been offered in the case. REUTERS/John Gress (UNITED STATES)

Hundreds mourning slain Chicago girl

Hadiya Pendleton, 15, was fatally shot on Jan. 29 as she and her friends shielded themselves from rain under a canopy in a Chicago park in what police say was a case of mistaken identity in a gang turf war. Pendleton, a sophomore at Martin Luther King Jr. College Prep, had performed with her school band eight days earlier at President Barack Obama’s inauguration. A $40,000 reward has been offered in the case.

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Activist Diane Latiker poses for a portrait in her Chicago office. There is a troubled neighborhood on the south side of Chicago that shaped much of Obama's fervor on gun control--even before he was elected to the state Senate. A profile of Roseland, which has been hit hard in the recent surge in murders in Chicago, and how it affected Obama's views. A profile of the neighborhood and efforts to curb violence there. Photo by John Gress, Freelance

Violence plagues Chicago area that shaped Obama’s views

From the violence-plagued neighborhood where a young Barack Obama cut his teeth as a community organizer, activist Diane Latiker watched the president deliver his election night victory speech. She felt a certain pride as he called for an America that was open to the “young boy on the South Side of Chicago who sees life beyond the nearest street corner.”

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Wall Street Jounal publishes my photo on their front page

My freind text me this morning to tell me I had the front page of the Wall Street Journal. You can’t beat that… too bad the subject is so grim.

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Ronnie Chambers Jr. looks down towards his collapsed mother Tahitah Myles during a funeral for the boys father Ronnie Chambers on February 4, 2013 in Chicago. Shirley Chambers of Chicago had four children - three boys and a girl. Now they're all gone. Her son, Ronnie Chambers. was the last of the single mother's children ' all victims of gun violence in Chicago over a period of 18 years.s. REUTERS/John Gress

One of life’s lessons: Chicago’s violent legacy gets personal

Its not every day that an assignment teaches you something about your own childhood. When I was 7 years old my father, who shared my name, passed away and when I looked down today, I saw a boy, Ronnie Chambers Jr., who is about he same age as I was back then, sitting at my feet with RIP carved in the back of his hair. He was there mourning the loss of his father, who also shared the same name.

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Shirley Chambers cries in her living room, next to pictures of her son Ronnie who was recently murdered. in Chicago, Illinois, January 30, 2013, Chambers had four children - three boys and a girl. Now they're all gone. The single mother will bury Ronnie on Monday. He was the last of her children - all victims of gun violence in Chicago over a period of 18 years. Picture taken on January 30, 2013. REUTERS/John Gress

When words are not enough

Sometimes you have to look someone in the eye and express something words could never say. This was one of those times.
I met Shirley Chambers yesterday, a mother who has lost all four of her children to gun violence. A woman who seems as pleasant and as motherly as many of the women I have met during my lifetime.

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