A 9-year-old Chicago girl was riding her scooter outside of her home last weekend when she was fatally shot, and police arrested a man who had reportedly complained about noise in the neighborhood, according to multiple news outlets.
Michael Goodman, 43, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Serabi Medina, Chicago police said, perNBC News, theAssociated Press, and theChicago Sun-Times.
According to the news outlets, Goodman lives on the same street as the girl in the city’s Portage Park neighborhood where the shooting occurred just before 10 p.m. on Aug. 5. He was expected in court Tuesday, perABC7 Chicago, but it’s unclear if he has entered a plea or retained an attorney to comment on his behalf.
GoFundMe
“It just didn’t make sense. None of it made sense,” neighbor Megan Kelley told theSun-Times.“Everybody in the community would just tell him they are just kids having fun playing, just let them be.”
That’s when Goodman allegedly approached a group of people on the sidewalk and shot the girl in the head, police said. Serabi’s father then tackled the man; during the scuffle, the gun discharged and a bullet struck Goodman in the face.
Police said a gun was recovered from the scene, and Goodman was arrested the same night, per the news outlets.
On aGoFundMe campaigncreated to offset funeral costs, Serabi’s family clarified that she was 9 years old (initial police reports said she was 8). According to the AP and theSun-Times,the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office, which ruled her death a homicide, confirmed the girl’s age.
Serabi was described on the fundraiser as “a beautiful little girl who adored her dog and her father more than anything.”
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“She was only 9 years old, she had her whole life ahead of her,” the page reads.
Loved ones who knew the girl, nicknamed “Bibi,” told ABC7 Chicago she was looking forward to starting fourth grade in the fall.
Chicago Public Schools commented on Serabi’s death, telling the AP in statement that it is “devastated at the loss of another young life.”
For now, a motive for the girl’s homicide is still being investigated.
source: people.com
