Mar 4, 2008 6:20 am US/Central
Rash Of Violence Worries Public School Officials
16 CPS Students Dead This Year, 3 This Weekend
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Kadeidrah Marsh, 15, was apparently caught-up in a fight her sister was having with another teen over a boy.
CBS
A teenage girl gunned down on the city's West Side this past weekend is just the latest in a string of Chicago Public Schools students killed in gun violence, and school officials are very concerned.
As CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports, CPS Chief Executive Officer Arne Duncan called it a tough weekend, in what is shaping up to be a tough year.
The Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday morning that almost as many public school pupils have died as a result of violence this year as last – and 2007 was record-breaking. It is a disturbing trend that has Duncan calling for tougher gun laws.
" We should not be losing these numbers of children," Duncan said. "It's just heartbreaking – we've had 16 children die due to gun violence this year – 16 children killed."
Just this past weekend, the death toll was three. One of them was Orr High School honor student Kadeidrah Marsh, 15, whose family called her Dee Dee.
"She was loving, caring, happy-go-lucky all the time," said her mother, Kimberly Marsh. "She didn't deserve that."
Kimberly Marsh said the shooting happened while Dee Dee was walking with her two older sisters to their grandmother's house in the 800 block of North Waller Avenue in the South Austin neighborhood. A young woman yelled at them and then, according to witnesses, pulled a gun.
Marsh said an ongoing quarrel over a boy involved one of her other daughters.
"This girl was trying to shoot my oldest daughter," Marsh said. "Dee Dee jumped in front of her. She took something that was so precious away from me."
The shooter walked away, and neighbors called for help.
"It's just very unfortunate for someone so young to lose their life so early, a young lady with a lot of potential," said neighbor Kymberley Pickett.
The shooting has left Marsh devastated, as well as the public school system.
"Just a couple weeks after the Northern Illinois (University) tragedy, we still just continue to see the tremendous devastation and carnage that gun violence plagues not just within Chicago, but the state and the entire country," Duncan said.
Two other CPS teens also died over the weekend, and five other children were injured in shootings – including a 7-year-old boy who was out with his father buying a hamburger.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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