For the third time in two months, residents in the Englewood community will wake up this morning having to face the reality that the life of one of its young, bright and promising girls has been cut short by gun violence.
A sunny and peaceful Wednesday morning was shattered shortly after 7 a.m. when police were called to the 5500 block of South Honore Street, where they discovered the body of Kierra Pope, who was accidentally shot in the face by her 1-2-year-old brother.
According to police, Pope's brother - whose name is being withheld by the Defender because he is a juvenile - got a hold of their father's 9mm semiautomatic handgun. As he played with the gun, it discharged, striking Pope in the right cheek.
Pope, a student at Charles R. Henderson School, 5650 S. Walcott Ave., was rushed to Comer Children's Hospital at the University of Chicago where she was pronounced dead at about 7:50 a.m., said hospital spokesman John Easton.
Later in the day, the children's father, Elijah Ammons, 31, was arrested and charged with one count of unlawful weapon possession.
"Right now we are ruling the shooting an accident," said Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond. "The 12-year-old brother was playing with a gun inside of the home. She was shot and police were called. The girl was found on the second floor in the hallway."
Ammons is scheduled to have a bond hearing at noon today, and he is scheduled to have a preliminary court hearing on May 10th, said Officer Amina Greet.
Five hours after the shooting, a makeshift memorial for Pope began to build as family members, friends and community activists trickled in and out of the two-flat brownstone house, bringing food and flowers. Family members, however, refused to talk to any media, who were camped out in front of the house. Many family members started entering and leaving the residence from the back.
Englewood activists Janice Pass, who works with Ceasefire, and Fred Hampton Jr., were among those paying their respects.
"This family here is like my family," Pass said. "The grandmother and I were raised together. I just got the call to come from out of town and come over...Here is another child we have lost to gun violence. I am just very devastated at this time."
Cortez McClung, 12, who attends Henderson - the school where Pope's brother also goes to - stared in a daze at the family's home.
"I knew her, yeah, I knew her," McClung said of Kierra Pope. "I knew her and her brother. I found out about it because I heard one of my friends say it. No one came up to the school and told us (anything)."
Hampton Jr. appeared more disgusted after McClung spoke. He pointed to a group of kids down the block playing a basketball game in the middle of the street, only moving to allow cars to pass by.
"The streets of Englewood is my office," Hampton Jr. said. "But just look at the vacant lots and lack of social services in our community. Vacant lots are our playgrounds."
John Paul Jones, chairman of the Greater Englewood Community and Family Task Force, said he's dismayed by the Chicago police's lack of effort of getting guns out of the community, despite the citywide gun collection program last Saturday.
"With them failing to give (10-year-old Siretha White's family) on 70th Place a citation, here we go again about the police not knowing how to deal with knowing how to deal with domestic violence cases in the city," Jones said. "Even though it was an accident, it was still domestic violence, and the city need to find a clever way for law enforcement to speak to these situations inside of the homes."
Jones also spoke on Chicago Public Schools needing to do a better job of counseling children when tragedies such as the Pope shooting occur.
"That's an ongoing crisis," Jones said. "CPS has a history of not having a very responsive crisis team. At one time they did, but now they haven't stepped it up in the way that they should.
"But shame on that family for not turning in that automatic weapon. I don't mean to be so hard on the family at this time of sorrow, but we hold that family more accountable for having that type of weapon inside of their home."
[Author Affiliation]
by Demetrius Patterson
Defender Staff Writer
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