A 15-year-old girl who performed in the recent festivities for President Barack Obama's inauguration has been shot dead.
Hadiya Pendleton was shot in the back as she sheltered from heavy rain under a canopy in a Chicago hospital, the Associated Press reports.
The honor student who was part of a marching band that had travelled to Washington to celebrate the President's re-election was shot just blocks away from King College Preparatory School.
Police have stated Pendleton had no gang affiliation and is not believed to have been the intended target. It is thought some of the teens she was with at the time were gang members, however.
Bonita O'Bannion told Chicago CBS Local: "There has to be an end to it. It's just too much. The children cannot go to school. They're in fear."
No arrests have been made.