WATCH: (Scroll Down For Video) A nine-year-old boy who was shot dead in Chicago was lured into an alley and executed as part of a gang feud, police have reported.
Tyshawn Lee was walking from school to his grandmother’s house at around 4.15pm on Monday when somebody opened fire, fatally hitting him in the head and back.
Today police superintendent Garry McCarthy said the boy was targeted because father Pierre Stokes, 25, has connections to gang violence in the city.
Speaking about Tyshawn’s killing today, McCarthy said it was ‘the most abhorrent, cowardly unfathomable crime that I’ve witnessed in 35 years of policing.’
Addressing reporters at the mouth of the alleyway where Tyshawn’s body was found, he added: ‘Everybody is sick; everybody is disgusted.’
The police chief added that Stokes may already know who killed his son, but is refusing to give officers a name because of his gangland ties.
Last night Tyshawn’s mother, Karla Lee, was found sleeping near the shrine before being checked into a hospital by relatives concerned for her welfare.
Even in a city where gang violence and shootings are frighteningly common, Tyshawn’s murder has cause outrage, with many saying that ‘a line has been crossed’.
