2 girls, ages 11 and 12, shot in head in separate shootings on South Side

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Two girls, ages 11 and 12, were shot in the head within 30 minutes of each other in separate shootings Saturday night, Chicago police said.

Sunday night, both were in critical condition.

Takiya Holmes, 11, was sitting in the backseat of a blue minivan with her mother and younger brother in the 6500-block of South King Drive in the Parkway Gardens neighborhood when shots rang out at about 7:40 p.m., police and family said.

Takiya was hospitalized at Comer Children's Hospital.

"They are treating her as best as they can with all kind of aggressive measures that the hospital can do for her, but it's grim and we want prayers to go up for her. We want whoever saw what happened to tell the police," said Patsy Holmes, Takiya's grandmother.

Holmes pleaded for the shooter to turn themselves in.

"My grandbaby did not deserve this. That is my only grandchild. Now she's fighting for her life at 11 years old. That shouldn't be," Holmes said.

Community activist Andrew Holmes said Takiya Holmes is his cousin. Holmes said the girl was on life support Sunday night. She was not responding to tests, but doctors were planning more tests for Monday morning.

The second victim was Kanari Bowers, 12, who was wounded in the head in the 1900-block of West 57th Street in the West Englewood neighborhood at about 7:15 p.m., police said.

Kanari was hospitalized at Stroger Hospital. A Henderson Elementary School student, Kanari was playing in the school's playground with friends when she was shot. The area around the school, 57th and Wolcott on the South Side, has recently become a hotbed of gang activity, police said.

Outside the hospital, Kanari's uncle, Djuan Bowers, pleaded for the shooting to stop: "Instead of a gun pick up a pencil or a book. Talk it out."

Neither girl was the intended target, police said.