Relatives mourn 7-year-old shot and killed on Chicago’s Near West Side – NBC Chicago

Family and loved ones of seven-year-old Jai’mani Amir Rivera gathered to remember him on Wednesday, a day after he was shot and killed outside his home in Chicago’s Near West Side neighborhood.

“I can say that he loved Spider-Man and wanted to start playing soccer with all the boys in August,” said his aunt Daniela, who asked us not to use her last name. “He only talked about soccer.”

His family also spoke extensively about his interest in video games.

“He was totally obsessed with Fortnite and only played the game on the PS5,” she said. “Before this happened to him, he was playing a game and my mom (grandmother) called him out on something.”

The young boy was shot on the sidewalk near his family’s Oakley Square apartment around 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.

“He told his stepfather, ‘Don’t touch the game. I’ll be right back. Please don’t touch the game,'” she said. “He never came back.”

Chicago police believe the shooting was random. Investigators believe the shots were fired from outside and Rivera was not the intended target.

“A random shooting of a seven-year-old is unacceptable,” said CPD Supt. Larry Snelling. “We really have to think about who we are as a society when our children are being shot in the streets.”

Residents of the apartment complex are now banding together to demand more action to protect their community. Residents said they are shaken and traumatized by the ongoing violence that has plagued the area for years.

“We all fear for our lives here,” said one resident. “It’s terrible. Children can’t go outside and play on a nice day without us having to worry about them being shot at or something bad happening to them.”

According to Chicago police, 127 children and teenagers under the age of 18 have been shot so far this year, 17 of them fatally. Some of the cases are still unsolved, including those of 5-year-old Reign Ware and 9-year-old Ariana Molina.

“Within three weeks, a five-year-old girl was killed just down the street and now seven-year-old Jai’mani,” Saleshea Peterson, founder of the organization Hug a Child Make a Child, told NBC Chicago. “We have to do something for our city.”

As residents cry out for more resources and support, they are now desperately pleading for justice.

“Jai’mani Rivera cannot go unnoticed,” she said. “We must hand over the killer.”

Peterson is organizing a peace march scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m. at the corner of Western and Jackson.