7-year-old girl recovering after being shot while trick-or-treating in Chicago

Her condition was upgraded to fair after getting shot in the lower neck area.

November 5, 2019, 10:39 AM

A 7-year-old girl shot and critically injured while trick-or-treating in Chicago is now on the road to recovery and able to enjoy her favorite TV shows in the hospital.

The little girl, dressed as a bumblebee, was out with her family when she was shot by a stray bullet in the lower neck area on Halloween night, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Since she was hospitalized last Thursday, her condition was upgraded from critical to fair, wrote Elizabeth Pedersen, Communications Manager with Cook County Health, in a statement issued on Monday.

PHOTO: Trick-or-treaters walk past a crime scene in the 3700 block of West 26th Street in Chicago, where a 7-year-old girl was shot while trick-or-treating on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019.
Trick-or-treaters walk past a crime scene in the 3700 block of West 26th Street in Chicago, where a 7-year-old girl was shot while trick-or-treating on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019. The girl, dressed as a ladybug, was taken the hospital in critical condition with a chest wound.
John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

"She is resting and watching her favorite TV shows," Pedersen said.

"Her parents are immensely grateful and overwhelmed by the love and support they have received," Pedersen added.

The 7-year-old was caught in the middle of an apparent gang dispute, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said.

Trick-or-treaters walk past a crime scene in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, where a 7-year-old girl was shot on Oct. 31, 2019.
John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune via AP

"Obviously the little girl wasn't the target," Johnson said Friday.

"I'm disgusted," he said. "Those involved don't deserve to be in our city."

A police supervisor and officer stand inside a cellphone store in the 3700 block of West 26th Street in Chicago, where a 7-year-old girl who was shot while trick-or-treating was brought inside until transported, on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019.
John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

On Saturday a 15-year-old boy was charged as a juvenile as the primary suspect in the shooting, said Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

No other arrests have been made, police said. The juvenile suspect's name has not been released.