CPS principal expected to make full recovery after 4th of July shooting

A Chicago Public Schools principal who, along with her 6-year-old daughter, was shot over the 4th of July weekend is expected to make a full recovery, the district said in a letter to her school community this week.

Principal Katina Manuel of Whistler Elementary on the Far South Side was at a cookout with family and friends when, toward the end of the gathering at 1 a.m. Monday, an SUV drove by and opened fire on the group of 50 people.

Manuel was hit in the side with the bullet exiting her back, and her daughter was struck in her hand, Manuel’s father told the Sun-Times in an interview. The principal was treated for her wound at Roseland Hospital, and her daughter was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital and later released.

“Principal Manuel was injured over the weekend off campus in a non-school related event, and is currently resting and recovering,” CPS official Daniel Perry wrote to families in an email. “Principal Manuel is expected to make a full recovery, and I ask that we all respect her privacy during this time until she returns.

“I know the whole Whistler community is deeply concerned for Principal Manuel, and I want to assure you that I and [district] staff will be available to support Whistler staff and students during this time. If your child is worried and needs extra support right now, I encourage you to reach out.”

Whistler, in the West Pullman neighborhood, enrolls 276 students.

Manuel and her young daughter were among 104 people who were shot — 19 fatally — over the deadliest and most violent weekend this year in Chicago. At least 13 children were wounded in the shootings.