Chicago girl fatally shot just after celebrating her 12th birthday amidst citywide crime spike

A young girl died on her 12th birthday, while still wearing her pink birthday sash and tiara, after she was hit by a stray bullet in a gang related shooting as she and her family returned home from a restaurant, authorities said.

Nyzireya Moore was pronounced dead shortly before noon on Friday, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office and police said. 

She had been in critical condition at Comer Children’s Hospital with severe brain injuries since Tuesday night’s shooting in the city’s West Englewood neighborhood.

Nyzireya was on her way back from a birthday dinner with her family when she was shot. 

She was in the passenger seat of a family member’s car when three men fired on another vehicle and a stray bullet struck her in the back of the head, police said. 

The Moore’s car was not the intended target.  

Nyzireya’s relative heard the gunshots before realizing the girl had been hit in the back of her head.

They drove to Holy Cross Hospital, where Nyzireya was eventually transferred to Comer Children’s Hospital. She died at the hospital on Friday.

No arrests have been made.

Nyzireya, pictured, was in the passenger seat of a family member’s car when three men fired on another vehicle and a stray bullet struck her in the back of the head

Nyzireya Moore, pictured, was pronounced dead shortly before noon on Friday, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office and police said

Police Superintendent David Brown announced a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the shooting, according to CBS Chicago.

‘This was heinous, reckless, senseless, and the gangs involved – and you know who you are – we’re coming after you,’ Brown said on Wednesday. 

‘We want to send a strong message to these violent offenders that this won’t be tolerated in the city of Chicago, and that there will be a price to pay in the criminal justice system for you.’ 

‘So the full brunt of every resource we have will bear down on the gang responsible for this. Officers will work around the clock. Our detectives will be relentless in solving this crime.’  

‘It’s just a sad day in Chicago, especially when we’re constantly looking at our children losing their life to this gun violence,’ Community activist Andrew Holmes said. 

Anyone with information is asked to call the anonymous CPD tip line at 833-408-0069 or submit a tip on the CPD website. 

The shooting come amidst an increase in murders and crime in Chicago, with murders up two percent in the city and overall crime up a whooping 34 percent to date this year.

Jonathan Meija, 18, was arrested in Streamwood, Illinois, after confessing to police that he had fatally shot Scott Mattison, 46, following a quarrel on Sunday evening

The 46-year-old leaves both of his daughters behind, while friends and family are shocked by the sudden announcement regarding his death. Pictured: Mattison with one of his daughters

Nyzireya’s shooting death comes just days after an 18-year-old man has been charged for fatally shooting a father-of-two who hit him in the face during a road rage argument.

Jonathan Mejia is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in the shooting death of 46-year-old Scott Mattison in broad daylight at 5:20 pm on Sunday.

A prosecutor told a Cook County courtroom on Wednesday that the quarrel between both men started when Mattison, of Glendale Heights, was trying to back his pickup truck into his driveway.

Last year, 797 homicides occurred in Chicago – more than any single year in the last quarter century.