Antwan Jones was found guilty in November of multiple counts of murder and attempted murder in the shooting of Takiya Holmes.
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Holmes was shot when her mother's minivan got caught in crossfire at 65th Street and King Drive.
This would have been Takiya's senior year in high school, her mother, Naikeeia Williams said.
"We would be preparing for prom and graduation and college. That's what our year would have consisted of," Williams said.
On Tuesday, Jones was sentenced to a total of 71 years, 45 years for murder and 26 years for attempted murder. Both included a firearms enhancement because he used a gun to commit the crime.
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"It will never bring her back. It will give me a little peace," Williams said. "She got justice, a little bit, but it will never bring her back."
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Prosecutors said 19-year-old Jones was aiming at rival gang members selling marijuana in his neighborhood near 64th Street and King Drive when Holmes was hit in the head by a stray bullet.
"I kind of blame myself because that weekend she was supposed to be with me," Patsy Homes, Takiya's grandmother said. "I let her go to the birthday party she wanted to go to. I blamed myself for years."
Cook County Judge Michael Clancy handed down the sentence by repeating the word "shot" 12 times. That's once for every bullet Jones fired the night of the killing.
This weekend, it will be seven years since gun violence cut the grade-schooler's life short.
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Through organ donation, relative Darvece Monson received one of the 11-year-old's kidneys. Monson said she carries Takiya's spirit with her every day.
"It doesn't compare to anything else, because when you get the organ of someone you get fears, you get insecurities you get memories, you get vulnerabilities," Monson said.
Anti-violence activist Andrew Holmes was Takiya's cousin. He said her death is both a family tragedy and a cautionary tale.
"I hope others are looking," Holmes said. "The choices and the decisions that you make to discharge that weapon it's always a body on the other end of it."
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