A 14-year-old boy has been charged in connection with the shooting death of a 12-year-old Dalilah Batey Sunday night in Calumet Heights on the Far South Side.
The boy, who wasn’t named because his a minor, was arrested less than two hours after the shooting Sunday night in the 9200 block of South Harper Avenue and charged with a felony count of involuntary manslaughter, Chicago police said.
Court information for the boy wasn’t immediately available.
Dalilah had been with another person, described as a male, inside a front bedroom of a home about 8:30 p.m. Sunday when she was shot in the head in the 9200 block of South Harper Avenue, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.
The 12-year-old, who suffered a gunshot wound to the right side of her head, was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 9:19 p.m., police said. An autopsy Monday determined she died of a gunshot wound to her face, and her death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner’s office.
According to a police report, several people were at the home at the time, including at least one who heard a single gunshot and saw a male exiting the bedroom “shortly thereafter.”
One shell casing and a bloody jacket were found in the bedroom, and two guns were recovered in the backyard, according to the report.
More than 100 people gathered on Monday night in Auburn Gresham to honor Dalilah’s memory. Mourners carried nearly as many balloons — mostly white, blue and black stars and hearts — and filled the better part of two yards.
A white stuffed horse with the word “love” stitched on its side sat next to prayer candles that illuminated pictures of the “princess of all princesses, and queen of all queens.”
Her mother, Ciara Batey, looked at photographs of her daughter. Before the balloons were released the crowd let out a cheer of “we love you, Delilah.”
“They took my baby,” Dalilah’s aunt, Jasmine Batey, said. “She was so happy.”