Percy Rounds, a 15-year-old from Chicago's West Pullman neighborhood, was shot and killed on the night of July 21, 2008. He was walking with a 17-year-old friend when two unidentified men approached them from a nearby gangway and opened fire. Rounds was struck in the head and died later at a local hospital, while his friend was shot in the thigh but survived. At the time of his death, Rounds was preparing to start his freshman year at Hyde Park Career Academy High School.
This incident occurred in a community already grappling with violence. Rounds' death was the second fatal shooting of a Chicago Public School student in that neighborhood in just a month. Less than a month earlier, another teen, Jeremy Jones, was fatally shot just blocks away. The West Pullman area had experienced a series of violent incidents, deepening concerns about youth safety in the city.
Rounds' murder remains a tragic example of the gun violence that plagued Chicago, particularly affecting young lives. Despite calls for justice from his family and community, his killers were not immediately apprehended. His death left a profound impact on those who knew him, and the community continued to seek solutions to the rising violence affecting their children.
