Two men have been arrested and are expected to be charged in connection to the fatal shooting of 8-year-old Melissa Ortega, according to multiple reports.
A 16-year-old teenager was arrested as the possible shooter while a 27-year-old was arrested after being stopped in the car police believe was used in the shooting, according to The Chicago Sun-Times.
The girl was killed by a stray bullet fired on Saturday afternoon in Chicago’s Little Village Neighbourhood. A 26-year-old man thought to be the intended target of the shooting was also wounded.
One man was arrested on Monday after investigators pulled him over driving a Toyota Camry, believed to be used as the getaway car, according to a police report seen by the Times. Police allegedly found a loaded gun in the driver’s side door.
The Cook County state’s attorney’s office told the Times that prosecutors “anticipate charges may be filed sometime this afternoon”.
Police Superintendent David Brown and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx scheduled a press conference on the Ortega investigation to be held later on Wednesday, a police spokesperson confirmed to The Daily Beast.
The shooting was reportedly targeted at Gangster Two-Six street gang member, who was struck twice in the lower back and survived.
Melissa’s mother, Araceli Leaños, told investigators they were running towards a bank for cover when she felt her daughter “go limp”.
The family said in a statement, obtained by the Beast, that they were running errands in Little Village and were about to get hamburgers when the gunfire began.
A GoFundMe, which has raised more than $72,000 to cover funeral expenses, says Melissa return to Mexico to be buried in her hometown of Los Sauces, in Zacatecas.
The family moved to Little Village in past august and Melissa was attending Emiliano Zapata Academy
“They were both excited to start a new life in Chicago and build their American Dream,” the GoFundMe page said.
