$25K reward for info in shooting of girl, 10, in South Chicago: ‘They put 4 holes in her,’ mother says

A $25,000 reward has been raised for information leading to the conviction of the shooter who wounded a 10-year-old girl last week on the South Side.

La’Mya Sparks’ mother on Monday pleaded for the public to come forward with tips.

“They put four holes in her... I really hope the people involved get caught,” La’Mya’s mother, Shawnta Williams, said.

La’Mya was in Russell Square Park with her older sister at 8:15 p.m. last Wednesday when an argument broke out between two groups of females, Chicago police said. The other group of females left the area, but a gunman returned to the 8300 block of South Shore Drive and fired shots, police said.

La’Mya was shot in the back and taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in serious condition.

Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

The bullets punctured La’Mya’s liver, kidney, gall bladder and intestines, Williams said.

She remains in the intensive care unit.

“We hope she gets back to herself,” said Williams, who added that La’Mya loved to eat but can’t now because she requires a feeding tube.

“That’s not her — and it’s all because of this senseless act of gun violence,” Williams said.

La’Mya is among at least 30 children 10 years old or younger who have been shot this year in Chicago, according to records kept by the Chicago Sun-Times. Six of those children were killed.

Since the beginning of September, at least three other children were shot:

• Sept. 21, another 10-year-old girl was shot while seated in a car on the West Side. The girl and two adults in the car were treated for gunshot wounds.
• Sept. 7, 8-year-old Dajore Wilson died after she and two others were shot in Canaryville. Someone shot into their car from a nearby SUV, police said.
• Sept. 5, a 4-year-old boy and a woman were wounded in drive-by in Gresham on the South Side.

On Friday, community activist Andrew Holmes and Father Michael Pfleger announced a $4,000 reward, but a recent anonymous contribution has raised the reward to $25,000, Holmes said.

Holmes asked people to send tips confidentially to 1-800-U-TellUs.