Grandma of 12-year-old killed by stray bullet speaks out: 'I'm very angry'

FOX 32 NEWS - It has been nearly a month since three children were shot and killed in one bloody weekend in Chicago. Two of those cases have been solved, but the death of 12-year-old Kanari Gentry-Bowers remains unsolved.

Now, her grandmother is pleading for help bring the killer to justice.

“Her life was just taken away from her and it seems like it doesn't matter,” said grandmother Patricia Donald-Bowers.

Kanari Gentry-Bowers was cut down by a bullet intended for someone else.

“Kanari was your typical 12-year-old, she was just beginning to come into her own, just beginning to blossom, become this little young lady that I knew she could be,” her grandmother said.

The Englewood girl was playing basketball with friends on the playground of her school, Henderson Elementary, on Saturday night, February 11th.

“I often times wish I had not let her go back out to play with her friends, but it's a Saturday, she just wanted to play,” said Donald-Bowers.

In what police call a gang related battle over drug turf, someone fired shots from an abandoned building on Winchester Street, north of the school, and Kanari was hit in the back of the head. She died four days later at Stroger Hospital.

“I'm very angry, I'm hurt, I'm sad, I miss my grand baby, I've had her for the last 12 years,” said Donald-Bowers, who raised her granddaughter and now says her house and heart feel empty.

“I miss seeing her go out to school every morning. I love you grandma, I love you Kanari, be good, have a good day now, you be good. That was just taken away just because somebody wanted to settle a score with somebody else,” she said.

Now, Kanari's grandmother is calling out the killer.

“They have no conscience, no sympathy, no empathy, no morals and no respect for life, they just don't care,” she said.

Police say a key witness has refused to cooperate and because of that, they still have not identified the shooter.

“I mean everybody seems to be scared of these children, but they're not scared of anybody, they're just doing what they want to, nothing seems to be getting done about it. I mean when do we start taking our neighborhoods back?” Donald-Bowers wondered.

She believes whoever killed her granddaughter will probably shoot someone else. She says that next murder will be on those witnesses who don't come forward.

“Somebody knows and if you're holding it in, I hope it eats you up inside alive. Somebody needs to come forward and right this wrong,” Donald-Bowers said.

There is a $5000 reward for information that helps solve this crime. Kanari’s grandmother wonders if a bigger reward, offered sooner, might have made a difference. Either way, she is praying for justice and hoping it comes soon.

Anyone with information is asked to call Chicago Police, or they can offer anonymous tips at 800-883-5587.