Girl, 13, killed by gunfire after writing essay denouncing 'senseless gun violence'

Show Caption Hide Caption Mother talks about her 13-year-old daughter who was killed by gunfire Bernice Parks talks about her daughter, the 13-year-old girl who was killed when shots were fired into her home on Monday night.

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin – Two years before her death by bullets that shattered her bedroom window Monday night, 13-year-old Sandra Parks wrote about the violence that plagues many Milwaukee neighborhoods.

"We are in a state of chaos," Sandra wrote as a sixth-grader in an award-winning essay commemorating the life of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"In the city in which I live, I hear and see examples of chaos almost every day. Little children are victims of senseless gun violence," she wrote. "Many people have lost faith in America and its ability to be a living example of Dr. King's dream!"

Sandra, an eighth-grader at Keefe Avenue School, was shot about 8 p.m. Monday in the bedroom of her home in the 2700 block of North 13th Street.

On Tuesday, police said a 26-year-old Milwaukee man has been arrested as a "person of interest" as a result of a tip. By late afternoon, Milwaukee police had a second man, a 27-year-old, in custody for questioning. Police did not indicate a motive.

Sandra is at least the fifth Milwaukee child fatally shot inside a home in the last four years by gunfire that erupted outside. Two others were caught in crossfire — one on a school playground, the other in his own yard.

“You think you’re in your own home and you be safe and you ain’t,” said family friend Laquita Gary, who stood inside the doorway of the home. At least two bullet holes could be seen in a front window, and remnants of police tape hung from the chain-link fence surrounding the yard.

Sandra's mother, Bernice Parks, called her child "everything this world was not."

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"My baby was not violent. My baby did not like violence," Parks said, struggling to hold back sobs as she stood surrounded by friends and family.

"Everybody she knew, everybody that came past, she made them happy. She didn't like for nobody to be sad or down," she said. "She was my angel from the time she was in my womb."

'A good girl' who loved to write

Family and friends described Sandra as "a good student," "a good girl" who loved to write, particularly poetry. Her Martin Luther King Day essay, titled "Our Truth," received third-place honors at the annual citywide celebration at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts last year.

She and the other winners were featured in a January 2017 interview on Wisconsin Public Radio.

Milwaukee Public Schools, in a statement mourning her loss, said Sandra is the seventh child attending a district school to die by homicide in 2018.

"As a community, we must commit ourselves to taking whatever action is necessary to keep our children safe," the district's statement says.

The shooting, just days before Thanksgiving, is the city's 91st homicide this year.

A vigil outside Parks’ home Tuesday night drew dozens of people standing in the chill night air to honor a girl they knew or had never met but who touched them with her words of peace.

Cherise Dawson leaned close to her daughter, Kendra Perkins, as they struggled to light candles in the breeze. "My daughter is 13 years old and an eighth-grader just like Sandra," said Dawson.

"I just couldn’t imagine burying my child. You’re supposed to be safe in your own house."

Quita Davis brought a pink teddy bear to the vigil because Sandra loved teddy bears. Sandra’s older sister is Davis’ goddaughter, who called Monday night with the terrible news.

"She was outgoing. A very bright young lady. Very positive and very smart," said Davis.

'Slow-motion mass murders'

Sandra's death prompted an outpouring of grief and anger by city officials, including Mayor Tom Barrett who railed against the "insanity" of gun violence in Milwaukee and around the country at a news conference at City Hall.

"Innocent people die. And Sandra Parks is one of those victims," said Barrett, who lay blame in part on the failure of federal and state leaders to enact sensible gun control measures.

"We have the slow-motion mass murders in urban areas, and we've got the huge tragedies that capture the nation's attention in nightclubs, in churches. And they're all horrific," said Barrett, who urged listeners to imagine what it would feel like if it happened in their own families.

"It breaks my heart to stand here, as a dad. It breaks my heart," Barrett said. "It's just, it's very hard. And I shake my head. This is just insanity."

Ald. Russell W. Stamper II, who represents the district where the shooting occurred, called it "a horrible situation."

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"This was a little girl," said Stamper, noting she was the second child in his district to be fatally shot inside her home in recent years. The first, 9-year-old Za'Layia Jenkins, was killed by gunfire that erupted outside her relative's home in May 2016.

'We're tired of it'

Stamper said he was proud of his neighborhood for becoming more vigilant in trying to combat crime. And he called for block captains, cameras, monthly meetings, cleaner streets and more police patrols to help keep his district safe.

"The community is tired of shootings and deaths and killings and just fighting for no reason," Stamper said. "We're tired of it."

Reggie Moore, director of the city's Office of Violence Prevention, said the timing is especially painful, "right before Thanksgiving when families should be preparing to celebrate and give thanks."

He urged community members to be engaged and diligent in fighting violence.

"Violence prevention is something we have to be committed to year-round. And it's something that each resident needs to be committed to in your social networks, in your families," he said.

Barrett also praised Sandra's neighbors for "stepping up," and helping officers identify a person of interest.

Some residents had reported seeing a person with a gun, according to Barrett.

In all, at least six Milwaukee children have been killed inside or nearby homes by men who fired their guns outside.

Milwaukee Police Inspector Timothy Heier told reporters gathered outside Sandra Parks' home Monday night that "it doesn't get any worse than a child so young to be the victim of gunfire."

"And to be sitting inside a residence with family members when this happens, it's one of the worst things that could happen."

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