Boy fatally shot on city’s Near West Side: ‘The random shooting of this 7-year-old is unacceptable’

A 7-year-old boy was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon as he walked to a neighbor’s home on the city’s Near West Side.

The boy was shot in the chest as he walked from his family’s home in an apartment complex in the 2300 block of West Jackson Boulevard to the sidewalk around 3 p.m., Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters near Stroger Hospital.

Officers found the wounded boy and rushed him to Stroger in their squad car where he was pronounced dead, Snelling said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office identified the boy as Jaimaniamir Rivera, who said his time of death was 3:39 p.m. An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.

Outside the hospital, Snelling was joined by Mayor Brandon Johnson who lambasted the violence that has appeared to have increased with a recent rise in temperatures.

“I can tell you that the weapon that was used to kill this baby was illegal and has no business on the streets of Chicago, or anywhere else for that matter,” Johnson said. “This is about our response to policies that have created conditions that have made it impossible for families to feel comfortable raising their children in Chicago.”

“This is a time where I can tell you right now the violence that’s going on in the city, for the parents of the 7-year-old has to be unbearable —unbearable and unacceptable for everyone in our city,” Snelling said. “The random shooting of this 7-year-old is unacceptable.”

Snelling said he did not believe the child was targeted, but didn’t offer a motive as the investigation was just underway.

Before the news conference, residents of the complex where the boy was shot told reporters that shootings in the area can feel indiscriminate at times and they have become increasingly fearful for their safety.

“Whenever they see their targets, they shoot,” Sequinna Coakley said. “Your grandmother could be out here, your mother could be out here. Your daddy, sister, brother, it doesn’t matter.”

Another neighbor, Ethiopia Jackson, said she’d heard gunshots in the Oakley Square apartment complex for the past several days. Neighbors mentioned a shooting on the same block on June 10 that left an 18-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the leg.

Police officers and sergeants could be seen reviewing video footage at the gated entrance to the complex and walking in and out of an east-facing entrance to the apartment building late Tuesday afternoon, where crime tape blocked large sections of the parking lot and sidewalk.

Through last Friday, the city had seen nearly 50 fewer homicides than the same time last year. Still, the city saw a violent Father’s Day weekend with seven homicides and 45 shooting victims in 35 incidents, according to police.

Snelling said the lower death totals weren’t cause for celebration when 127 juveniles had been shot this year. “We’ve had 17 who have lost their lives to gun violence,” he said. “Those (homicide) numbers are significantly down from last year but still unacceptable. What we need to talk about is how we’re going to protect our children.”