‘Bullets just came from nowhere’: Fourth of July weekend gun violence kills at least 17, including 7-year-old-girl

By PAIGE FRY, JEREMY GORNER, SOPHIE SHERRY and JAVONTE ANDERSON
CHICAGO TRIBUNE | JUL 05, 2020 AT 9:10 PM

As many Chicagoans were celebrating the Fourth of July with barbecues and after-dinner fireworks, relatives of Natalia Wallace were experiencing the worst day of their lives.

The 7-year-old girl was one of at least 80 people shot, at least 17 of those fatally, across the city during the violent holiday weekend, starting Thursday afternoon. Gunfire erupted outside her relative’s home Saturday on the West Side, and she became the latest in a horrific string of children whose lives have been taken away by gun violence in Chicago.

“Bullets just came from nowhere,” Natalia’s grandmother, Linda Rogers, said Sunday afternoon from the site of the shooting in the Austin community. “Whoever did it, I wish they’d come forward.

“I came out here and my grandbaby (was) lying on the ground,” Rogers said as she started to cry. “I couldn’t do nothing. My baby was lying on that ground. It didn’t take a minute.”

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Paige Fry is an overnight crime reporter for the Chicago Tribune. She graduated from the University of Florida, where she was the editor-in-chief of the student-run paper The Independent Florida Alligator. She has also previously written for the Tampa Bay Times, The Palm Beach Post and The Gainesville Sun.

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Jeremy Gorner is a beat reporter for the Tribune's Metro staff, covering the Chicago Police Department. He joined the Tribune in 2006 to cover breaking news for its online news desk. Before joining the Tribune, Gorner covered crime at the now-defunct New City News Service, formerly known as the City News Bureau of Chicago.

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Sophie Sherry is an intern with the quick response team. She recently graduated from The University of Michigan where she majored in public policy. Before The Chicago Tribune, Sophie interned at CNN, Michigan Radio and The Invisible Institute.

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Before coming to the Tribune, Javonte worked at The (Toledo) Blade, where he covered K-12 and higher education. Previously, he was a general assignment reporter at the Post-Tribune in northwest Indiana. Javonte hails from Gary and is a proud Indiana University graduate.