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Police: Chicago Boy, 9, Was Lured Into Alley In Targeted Killing

CHICAGO — Police say a 9-year-old Chicago boy was lured into an alley and killed in apparent gang-related retaliation, reports CBS Chicago. Tyshawn Lee, a...
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CHICAGO — Police say a 9-year-old Chicago boy was lured into an alley and killed in apparent gang-related retaliation, reports CBS Chicago.

Tyshawn Lee, a fourth-grader, was reportedly shot in the head and back Monday afternoon near his grandmother’s house in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood.

Superintendent of Police Garry McCarthy said at a press conference at the murder scene Thursday it was the most “abhorrent, cowardly, unfathomable crime” in his 35 years of police work.

Investigators are looking into several possibilities that the boy was targeted because of gang ties to his family, according to CBS Chicago. McCarthy said police know which gangs were involved, but investigators need more information before making an arrest.

Sources told the station the child’s father has gang ties, but his mother Karla Lee reportedly denied any gang connections within her family.

McCarthy said the boy’s father, Pierre Stokes, is not cooperating, reports the Chicago Tribune. In an interview with the paper, Stokes said that he didn’t believe anyone would want to hurt him, but if they did, there would be no reason to harm his son instead because Stokes is easily found in the neighborhood.

He said investigators seem more interested in him than in finding who killed his son.

“A baby was executed; a baby was assassinated in this alley,” the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Roman Catholic priest and Chicago social activist, said at the news conference Thursday. “We have gone to a new low.”

A spokesman for Supt. McCarthy has confirmed to the Chicago Tribune that a person of interest was being interviewed Wednesday night about Lee’s murder after turning himself or herself in. The person was reportedly later released.

A $35,000 reward was being offered for information leading to an arrest.

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