The 6th public school student killed this year

Let me just say that it's very unfortunate that the public schools have to keep an unfortunate statistic. Sometimes they may not be accurate especially if these students aren't CPS students. Indeed for those who won't read into these stories there could be an assumption that these students are already up to no good.

Still it's unfortunate that another young life was taken. I want to share this story although this is very much outside of the neigborhood. I've been seeing a lot of stories like this all over the place this morning and this Tribune article is a good one:

After playing in a football game, Sameere Conn stopped briefly at a convenience store for a bag of chips on his way home. It was a store many of his friends avoided because of gang-related trouble.

His family wishes he had gone straight home.

Sameere, 13, was shot at about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday when a gunman opened fire through a window at Hook Finer Food at 106th Street and Bensley Avenue, about a block from his home. He died early Thursday in the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital.

"He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time," said his grandmother, Elaine Mayo, 61.

The 8th grader at Bright Elementary had joined the football team at Trumbull Park this fall, and his coach had already declared him a star, Mayo said.

"His coach said he could be the next Walter Payton," she said. "I told him to hurry up, so I could enjoy the money. He didn't have a chance to do anything."

Police say Sameere was not involved in any gang. His friends say teens in the neighborhood are frequently pressured by gangs to join.

Three of his closest friends said Sameere told them he got a call Monday on his cell phone from a suspected gang member telling him he was on top of his "death wish" list. On Tuesday, a day before the fatal shooting, one of the friends said gang members driving through the neighborhood opened fire and he and Sameere ran home. A bullet hole can be seen in the front door of Conn's home.

"If they see us, they ask us, 'What gang are you in?' " said Brandon Rodgers, 14, who had been friends with Sameere since 2nd grade. "I don't want to be in a gang, but I have to [show a gang sign]. Or they're probably going to kill me."

I hope may of you are wondering. Why do they pressure those who don't want to be in a gang to join a gang anyway? Also why shoot or assault someone who says that they're not in a gang?

In fact the other day I blogged about such a story. This was over 14 years ago where a young man was shot by an 11-year-old because he said he wasn't in a gang. I don't understand the logic.