A Chicago mother is reeling after her 13-year-old daughter became a victim of gun violence on Saturday evening. CBS Chicago reports that roughly 100 people were shot in The Windy City over the weekend and into Monday. Amaria Jones was one of the many fatalities.
According to Amaria’s mother Lawanda Jones, Amaria died doing a TikTok dance in the middle of her West Side home when the bullet from an unknown gunman went through a window and struck the teen in the neck.
“I turned around and I was looking for her and she was on the ground reaching out like this, holding her neck,” Lawanda Jones told CBS Chicago. “I was like, what?! What?! What?!” Jones says she’s burdened by the fact that her last moments with her daughter are of Amaria reaching out for her with blood gushing from her neck.
According to the accounts of two teen boys who were seated outside of the home, a man saw a red laser pointed at him before multiple gunshots rang out. The 15 and 16-year-olds were both shot — the 16-year-old in the leg and the 15-year-old in the back. Both were transported to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition.
Amaria was not as fortunate. The teen was reportedly taken to Stroger Hospital in Cook County where she died roughly a half-hour after arriving. Jones says that with the death of her daughter it’s clear that kids are not safe anymore.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called Jones over the weekend to extend her condolences. The city’s leader has been under intense pressure to address police misconduct in the wake of civil unrest stemming from officer-involved shootings. Jones says the conversation must go beyond the police killing citizens and deal with the members of the community who are “killing each other off.”
Jones is pleading with the person who shot her daughter to turn themselves in. The mourning mother told CBS that the idea of burying her daughter is, at times, too difficult to bear.
Chicago police are asking anyone with information to contact them. Tipsters can also write into the Chicago Police Department tip line.