14-year-old girl dies days after Back of the Yards shooting

Savanah Quintero was shot Wednesday after being approached by a group of suspected gang members who asked if she was in a gang and then chased her as she walked home from the store, officials said.

Community members and friends gather at a vigil for a 14-year-old girl who was shot in the Back of the Yard’s neighborhood, Thursday, June 3, 2021. |

A 14-year-old girl who was shot Wednesday by gang members after being chased in Back of the Yards has died.

Savanah Quintero was pronounced dead at 12:57 p.m. Saturday at Comer Children’s Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The shooting happened around 6 p.m. in the 1700 block of West 48th Street, Chicago police said.

The teen and her boyfriend had just bought snacks from a store when they were confronted by three young gunmen, according to police and Ald. Ray Lopez (15th).

They asked if she was in a gang, and after she said she wasn’t, the attackers chased her and opened fire, officials said. She was taken to Comer in critical condition at the time.

No arrests have been reported.

Police investigate the shooting of 14-year-old Savanah Quintero Wednesday in the 1700 block of West 48th Street in Back of Yards.

Lopez, who said he got details of the shooting from police, said a new gang in the area has been recruiting from neighborhood schools — focusing on kids 15 years and younger. He blamed the glorification of gang culture for violence in his ward.

“This elevation of gang life has to come to an end. It’s not cute. It only comes to one outcome, what we saw last night,” he told the Sun-Times.

The seventh-grader said she was not in a gang but a relative belonged to a rival gang, Lopez said.