(Chicago was beset by major gun violence over the first weekend of August 2018. Eleven people lost their lives, including 17-year-old Jahnae Patterson.
Photo by Ferdinand Stöhr on Unsplash.)
Saturday, August 4, was a restless night for 40 Chicago families. In less than seven hours, 40 people were shot on the city’s West and South sides in gang related shootings, 15 of whom were teenagers, according to the Chicago Tribune.
At a block party, a 14-year-old boy and an 11-year-old boy were both shot in their legs and are now reportedly stable. But 17-year-old Jahnae Patterson was shot and killed during the same attack, in which every person wounded was 21 or younger.
“My baby just left the house. Twenty minutes later, I get a call saying my baby got shot,” Patterson’s mother, Tanika Humphries, told the Tribune at a Sunday evening vigil held at the family’s home.
Patterson and a friend at the block party were walking to use a bathroom when two young men started a shootout. Patterson was shot in the face and pronounced dead at the scene. According to ABC7, as of Monday morning, no one is in custody yet, and Area Central detectives are still investigating.
Patterson was a senior at Manley Career Academy High School, the first girl born in her family, and the fifth of nine children. She dreamed of becoming a lawyer.
Her mother describes her as a hardworking student who always did what she was supposed to. “My baby did not deserve this,” Humphries said. “My baby wasn’t the type to hang out. She was in school. She worked. She did everything she was supposed to do as a teenager. And then coward (expletive) took it all away from us.”
Born with health problems, Patterson was growing up to be a strong young woman, her family says.
Dozens of her relatives attended the vigil and hung up pictures and posters of Patterson on a fence outside her family’s home.
“I’m trying to be strong, but I can’t,” Humphries said.
Many, including one of Patterson’s friends who was with her in her final moments, posted their condolences on social media.
Alice kisses a picture of her 17-year-old niece, Jahnae Patterson, during a vigil for Patterson who was shot in the face and killed early Sunday morning. In a 7-hour period 40 people were shot and four were killed in #Chicago, including Jahnae. https://t.co/miTdWtWEEV pic.twitter.com/4RjDE9PAEo
— armando l sanchez (@mandophotos) August 6, 2018
Relatives of HS senior Jahnae Patterson say goodbye after a rash of overnight shootings left about more than 30 wounded and at least 4 dead. pic.twitter.com/aZ5bUmCmqx
— Will Lee (@MidnoirCowboy) August 6, 2018
17-year-d Jahnae Patterson among the 5 killed and 34 shot this last this weekend. Her family is gathered for a vigil now. @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/lPd1QgKP4E
— Charlie De Mar (@CharlieDeMar) August 6, 2018
Nearly 60 people were shot — 11 fatally — between Friday night and Monday morning in Chicago, which led to chaos outside of Stroger Hospital as many families waited to find out about their relatives who had been shot, according to NBC 5.