10-year-old killed by stray bullet while watching TV was ‘a sweet little girl filled with joy, hopes and dreams’

Lena Nunez was watching television with her brother Saturday night at their grandmother’s apartment in Logan Square when tragedy struck.

A stray bullet that tore through a window of the home in the 3500 block of West Dickens struck the girl in the head, according to the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Within hours, Lena was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital.

She was 10 years old.

On Monday evening, several hundred people poured into the street in front of Lena’s home, where candles and flowers memorialized a child gone too soon. Family and friends mourned openly; their wails echoed on the block as people’s heads hung low.

For a quick moment, lightning broke through the clouds. Seconds later, roaring thunder startled people. A man shouted, “God does not need a microphone!”

“This has gotten me [shaken] up; we can no longer accept our children being murdered in our streets,” said Robert Torres, co-founder of Parents for Peace and Justice. “These are babies that didn’t have a chance to grow up, so I think we are all hurting as a city and as a community.”

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The vigil — organized by 26^th Ward Committeewoman Angee Gonzalez Rodriguez and Lena’s family — was emotional as people grasped for some comfort in the gospel. Many pastors from around the community came to show their respect and preach for peace.

“We all want justice. I pray for peace over the family that is mourning this loss,” said David Marrero, pastor of New Life Covenant Humboldt Park Campus. “There could be many excuses on why violence is happening. People could point toward the poverty, people can point it toward the drugs, people can point it toward any other thing. But when it really comes down to it all, it really comes down to the condition of the person’s heart.

“And I am praying there is a hard change in people’s hearts.”

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36^th) called on people to speak out if they know something. Though the shooting did not take place in his ward, he showed his support and condemned what he called “urban terrorists.”

“Every weekend, 50, 60, 70 people shot. Babies getting killed — for what? You don’t own this block,” Villegas said.

Villegas said he is working to introduce some kind of “witness protection ordinance” that would protect people who fear retribution.

Geovanny Nunez, a family member who launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover the upcoming funeral costs, described Lena as “a sweet little girl filled with joy, hopes and dreams.”

“Her untimely death has broken the hearts of many,” Geovanny wrote, pointing to the girl’s family — her parents and the brother who was there when the fatal gunshot rang out. ‘‘No parent should ever have to bury their child. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be!”

Still, Lena is among a growing number of young children who recently have been victimized by Chicago’s summer gun violence. Two boys, ages 1 and 3, also have been shot and killed in the last two weekends.

During a news conference Monday, CPD Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said Lena appears to have been shot by a gang member targeting rivals from almost a block away. Deenihan added that detectives have identified a “suspect vehicle,” though no arrests have been made in the shooting.

With Lena’s family members “devastated” by the tragedy and already reeling financially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Geovanny started the crowdfunding campaign Sunday to raise $35,000 to pay for the funeral and burial costs.

By Monday evening, nearly 1,000 people had contributed $40,085.

Manny Ramos is a corps member in Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster Sun-Times coverage of Chicago’s South and West sides.

Manny Ramos/Sun-Times