Two men have been charged with fatally shooting a 12-year-old girl in March as she was heading home from her birthday party.
Nyzireya Moore was riding in a car with her family on March 1 when a group began shooting at another car in the 2300 block of West 72nd Street, about a block from where she lived, Chicago police said.
Moore was struck in the head by a stray bullet and taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where she died three days later, police said.
Malik Parish, 22, and Abdul Ali, 20, were each charged with one count of first-degree murder, Chicago police Supt. David Brown announced at a press conference Tuesday. The two were in a stolen car when they were taken into custody, according to Brown.
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A break in the case came when an anonymous witness came forward, according to Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan. “That was a pivotal point,” he said.
Community activist Andrew Holmes, who has worked with the family, said the family is grateful for the arrests but “there’s not too much relief there.”
Both Parish and Ali have criminal records, and Brown took the opportunity to again criticize judges and prosecutors who allow violent criminals to be released from custody.
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“These are violent people and their criminal history has shown them to be violent,” Brown said. “We need to throw the book at these people.”
Both men were scheduled to appear in bond court Tuesday.
At least 33 children 15 and younger have been killed in Chicago this year. Tuesday’s charges come a week after three people were arrested for the murder of 7-year-old Akeem Briscoe.
Akeem was struck by a stray bullet as he washed his hands in his Humboldt Park home last month.
