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Cecilia Thomas murder: Chicago community gathers to remember infant killed in shooting

By FOX 32 News
Published  July 1, 2022 5:06pm CDT
South Shore
FOX 32 Chicago

Mother of 5-month-old Chicago girl fatally shot calls for an end to gun violence through tears

Community leaders are stepping forward with a message, begging the public to work with Chicago police and turn in every shooter.

CHICAGO - Community leaders are stepping forward with a message, begging the public to work with Chicago police and turn in every shooter.

Gathering in the South Shore neighborhood Friday, community activists and leaders held their children close as they remembered 5-month-old Cecilia Thomas.

The infant was killed last Friday when a gunman shot into a parked car along 77th and South Shore Avenue.

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Police say Cecilia is the youngest victim of gun violence in the city this year.

"I don’t want to imagine what it is like to lose my child, or any of my children for that matter. And it's something that we — when we watch it on TV, we are experiencing that same trauma because we have to keep imagining it over and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. Whether it's five months, one year, 10, 12, 21, 45, it don't matter — that is somebody's child," said Shani Kellers, mother of Cecilia.

Summer weekends, and especially summer holiday weekends, are traditionally violent in Chicago.

City leaders are putting together a safety plan for this Fourth of July weekend.