Girl, 16, shot dead while intervening in Gage Park beating

A 16-year-old girl was shot to death Thursday while returning to help a man being beaten by a group of people in the Gage Park neighborhood.

She and the man were walking home in an alley after eating at a restaurant when four males exited an SUV and confronted them in the 5200 block of South Kedzie Avenue, according to a Chicago police spokeswoman.

The males began to hit and beat the man about 7:10 p.m., and the girl ran to a nearby friend for help, police said.

As the girl and friend returned running to the man being beaten, someone in the group fired shots, police said. The beaten man told investigators he saw the girl fall to the ground.

Shot in the head, she was rushed in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital.

The victim, Lizette Mata of Little Village, was pronounced dead at 8:40 p.m., according to Cook County medical examiner’s office spokeswoman Brittany Hill. An autopsy ruled her death a homicide.

The beaten man, 18, also told police he didn’t know anyone in the group who fired the shots, but he believed the incident was gang related, police said.

No arrest has been made.

The shooting happened in Chicago Police’s 9th District, which has recorded at least 34 other murders in 2020 through Nov. 29, according to official police statistics. Murders have increased 89% in the district since last year. By comparison, the district recorded 18 murders in 2019 during the same period.

Citywide, gun violence and murders have increased more than 50% over last year. Through the end of November, police reported more than 3,800 shooting victims in Chicago this year alone.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.