Street Gang Life

What should have been an fun family night turned into a tragedy as a 7-year-old girl was shot to death shortly after leaving a hair salon in Chicago. The little girl, named Heaven Sutton, was selling candy at the stand that she and her mother had set up outside their house when she was shot by two unidentified men who are thought to be gang members. Around 10.40pm Wednesday night, the girl was caught in the crossfire when men began shooting at a group of people in West Chicago. The little girl’s mother Ashake Banks spoke to the local ABC 7 affiliate about how she and her daughter had set up a candy stand as a fun way to establish some neighborhood community in an area laden with crime. ‘There’s been so much shooting on the block so I figured “They know us, they won’t come to the neighborhood and start shooting,” but they really didn’t even care,’ Ms Banks told the station. I left the tent up and put a chain on it so that they won’t steal it so we can open up every day. She looked forward, every day, to opening up the candy store.’ The hunt is still on for the two men who shot the fatal bullet which hit Heaven in the back. An unidentified 19-year-old boy was also shot but in the ankle and was not killed. Her mother lovingly joked that her daughter was ‘a diva at seven’. She liked fashion, she loved expensive clothes, she like to get her hair done, her nails done, everybody knows that,’ Ms Banks said. In keeping with her high-fashion image, Heaven had her hair done earlier that day in preparation for a family trip to Disney World. She was beautiful, still is beautiful. I’m going to miss her a lot,’ Heaven’s brother Malik Ellis told the station. The family was headed to the most magical place on earth next month just before moving out of Chicago’s Austin neighborhood because they felt it was too dangerous. In a sad twist, Ms Banks said that it was actually Heaven that encouraged them to make the move because she was fearful of the crime. ‘Y’all cannot just get away with killing my baby,’ Ms Banks said in a message to the shooters. ‘She just got her hair did today, she was going to Disney World.’