African American female, age 11. On the evening of July 18, 2014, in Chicago's West Garfield Park, Shamiya Adams was at a friend's apartment for a sleepover, sitting on the bedroom floor with other girls and getting ready to make s'mores.
A gunshot fired from outside slipped through a slightly opened window, pierced a wall and closet, and struck Shamiya Adams in the head.
She was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital and died the next morning, July 19, 2014.
The randomness of the shot, the small opening of the window, and the quiet domestic scene inside turned a summer night into a tragedy that rippled across the city.
In the days that followed, neighbors held vigils and city leaders joined mourners to honor the fifth grader, nicknamed “Queen.”
Her classmates and friends spoke about her bright presence, while candles and posters were gathered on the block where the bullet had entered her friend's home. The grief took on a public shape as Chicago confronted yet another instance of a child lost to an errant round.
Within a week, police announced an arrest.
On July 24, 2014, prosecutors charged 18 year old Tevin Lee in connection with the killing, alleging he was a Gangster Disciples member who opened fire in retaliation after a 14 year old friend's brother was beaten earlier that day.
Authorities said he aimed at a group he believed was the rival gang members responsible, even after being told his intended targets weren't there, and that one of his shots traveled into the apartment where the girls were gathered.
Lee was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm, and a judge ordered him held without bail.
Years later, the case reached a jury.
On October 30, 2019, after a two-week trial, a Cook County jury acquitted Lee of first-degree murder and aggravated discharge.
During the proceedings, testimony and argument pointed to a close friend of Lee, known by the nickname “Boo Man”, as the possible triggerman; Lee himself admitted he had initially lied to police about being at the scene and said his friend fired the fatal shots.
With the not-guilty verdict, the prosecution's theory that Lee fired four shots at rival youth gang members, sending the stray bullet that killed the 11 year old, did not secure a conviction.
The acquittal left the case without a convicted shooter, even as the record preserved the sequence of events: a retaliatory burst of gunfire on a neighborhood street; a bullet's improbable path through a window and wall; a child at a sleepover who never made it to morning.
The story of 11 year old Shamiya Adams endures in the accounts of her family and community, and in the unresolved questions about the person who pulled the trigger that sent the bullet into that room.
