Rev. Jesse Jackson leads a march calling for an end to gun violence from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. College Prep High School to nearby Harsh Park February 2, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. Hadiya Pendleton was a fifteen-year-old honor student at King School who was shot and killed while hanging out with friends on a rainy afternoon under a shelter in Harsh Park on January 29. A $40,000 reward has been raised to help find her killer. Pendleton was the 44th homicide recorded in Chicago for 2013. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The cousin of a 15-year-old Chicago honor student shot to death this week says the most important thing for her family is bringing the killer to justice.
Speaking at a news conference Saturday, Shatira Wilks pleaded for anyone with information about the shooter to come forward.
Hadiya Pendleton was shot Tuesday while she talked with friends after school in a park about a mile from President Barack Obama’s Chicago home. Police say she was an innocent victim caught up in a gang shooting.
Pendleton died about one week after she performed for Obama’s inauguration. She was a majorette with the King College Prep band.
The shooting has turned a spotlight on Chicago’s homicide rate.
Wilks says Chicago is becoming a city that’s “comfortable with death” and “this has to stop.”
Meanwhile, The Rev. Jesse Jackson is calling on President Obama to return to Chicago and approve federal intervention to address the soaring number of deadly shootings.
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