Police said the shooting happened in a park near 83rd and South Shore Drive.
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10-year-old girl injured in South Chicago shooting in Russell Square Park, CPD says
La'Mya Sparks' father said she there playing with her older sister when two teenage boys came up and started shooting into the crowd.
"She was playing. She was with her big sister, she was playing, doing what a kid is supposed to do," said Lawrence Sparks. "You shouldn't have to go to a park, and be a little kid, 10 years old, and look over your back and see someone that you would think would shoot you or harm you the way that he harmed my daughter."
She was struck in the back as she ran away, her father said.
"When she was running, she fell," he explained. "She got up and tried to run again and she fell again and noticed she could not get back up. The friend that was on the side of her noticed she had got hit
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Lawrence Sparks said that friend did his best to hold it to La'Mya's wound and stop the bleeding as they waited for paramedics to arrive.
The 5th grader has gone through multiple surgeries and has severe damage to her internal organs, her family said.
"She's hurting. She's hurting," said her father. "She's up two minutes. She can only talk about two minutes. Play a game for two minutes. Look at her cell phone for two minutes and she's right back asleep."
Before the shooting she was like most other 5th grade girls; she liked TikTok, dancing and cell phone games.
10-year-old girl hospitalized after South Chicago shooting in Russell Square Park; $2K reward offered for information
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Before the shooting La'Mya was a perfectly fun and energetic little girl, her father said. Now she will likely be on a feeding tube for months. Her father said they saw her walk for the first time since the shooting Friday.
"I'm angry, but moreso I want my daughter to heal and be the little girl that she was before this happened, the little girl that she is," Lawrence said.
"I can say to this individual, we just about know who you are," said community activist Andrew Holmes. "It's just going to be a matter of time. You can run, but so far, you ain't gonna be able to hide."
A $4,000 reward is now being offered by two community activists
Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-883-5587.