A 10-year-old boy was seriously wounded when he was shot in his chest after three people outside fired into his Burnside home Friday.
Two days later, a bullet pierced the head of another child, 11-year-old Daejah Blizzard, while she was inside her Englewood home. The alleged shooter, a neighbor, had been outside and was reportedly squabbling with members of Daejah’s family when he got his gun and starting shooting.
What set the man off? Daejah’s brothers told reporters it was because they cut through his yard as they made their way home after a game of basketball. As of late Tuesday, no one had been charged with Daejah’s shooting, but she remained clinging to life in intensive care at Comer Children’s Hospital.
The tragic scenario has been repeated far too many times: Children victimized because immature adults can’t control their anger and instead pull a trigger.
Neither the Far South Side boy, who reportedly suffered non-life threatening injuries, nor Daejah would have ended up victims had it not been for the despicable actions of those old enough to know better. To call the culprits’ behavior childish would be an insult to the increasing number of children hurt or killed in shootings nationwide. More U.S. children and teens now die from firearms than from any other cause; many more are seriously injured.
America’s relentless gun violence is made worse by easy access to firearms. Similarly, more children are being shot because too many adults are easily agitated and don’t think twice about shooting, failing to grasp the potential horrific consequences until it is too late.
Mass shootings garner widespread media attention, and should. But what about those shootings in which children are at home, presumably in a safe space, yet end up in a hospital or worse because of random gunfire?
Should Daejah survive, both she and the boy will have a long road ahead.
A year after being shot, child and adolescent gun violence survivors experienced a 117% increase in pain disorders, a 68% increase in psychiatric disorders and a 144% increase in substance use disorders, according to a study published this month in Health Affairs.
The shootings also take a toll on family members. Parents of survivors experienced a 30% to 31% increase in psychiatric disorders, the study found.
As innocent bystanders, most children may not even know who shot them.
Daejah may have known her alleged shooter or at the very least she may have seen him when she went outside or went to school.
Grown-ups should be helping make children’s lives easier, instead of destroying them because of their juvenile beefs.
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