Girl, 8, shot in arm on West Side

CHICAGO (WLS) -- An 8-year-old girl was shot in the arm Sunday night in Chicago's North Austin neighborhood, just as people gathered for a vigil for a 14-year-old boy fatally shot earlier in the day, police said.

Jamia Barnes, who was released from the hospital late Sunday, is the 27th child under the age of 13 shot in Chicago this year, police said. A 36-year-old woman, a friend of Jamia's mother, was also shot in the left hand.

No one was in custody Monday.

Meanwhile, Barnes - who was shot just above her right wrist - hopes she can recovery before starting third grade in two weeks. She sported an arm sling Monday and was resting at home, but is asking for the shooter to go to jail.

The shooting occurred as people were gathering for a vigil for Malik Causey, 14, who was fatally shot nearby at North and Central avenues early Sunday.

"I can't believe that somebody would come and do something Iike that while they're grieving for their loved ones," said Jamie Ellis, Jamia's mother.

Before Jamia was shot, two men were arguing nearby when one of them fired several shots, one of which went through a window down the street. Another hit Jamia's mother's friend in the hand and then traveled into Jamia's arm.

Both the woman and child did not wait for an ambulance. A woman drove them to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park. The woman was Ashake Banks, the mother of Heaven Sutton, a 7-year-old girl who was fatally shot in the same neighborhood in 2012.

"I couldn't even shed a tear," Banks said. "My main thing was to make sure that she wasn't shot in her head or nowhere on her body really bad. I relived just pulling Heaven out of the hallway when she got shot. I couldn't let this baby just die in front of me."

Several gunshots were heard and witnesses said many children were outside at the time. One of the bullets traveled a block away.

"Look at the number of children that have been hit by this gunfire and nobody seems to want to come out and say anything or protest about anything too tough about the children getting hit," said Andrew Holmes, a community activist. He is offering a $1,000 reward for information about the shooting.

Jamia's mother is praying for all of the gang violence to stop.

"I'm grateful that it wasn't much worse you know cause it could have been, but God is good," Ellis said.