Girl, 15, Dies After Being Shot In Chicago-To-Evanston Spree

Evanston IL

03 February, 2021

11:44 AM

Description

CHICAGO — A 15-year-old girl has died after being shot during last month's deadly rampage that extended from Chicago's South Side to Evanston, Illinois. Damia Smith died Tuesday at Comer Children's Hospital, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. She had been hospitalized since Jan. 9, when authorities said she was shot in the head while riding in the back of her mother's car near South Halsted and 103rd streets. Smith is the fifth person to die out of the seven people police say 32-year-old Jason Nightengale shot before he was fatally shot by Evanston police as he ran toward the front door of a dollar store on Howard Street. Smith was a student at Morgan Park High School. She was a member of the dance team at school and a praise dancer for her church who "lived to laugh and made you smile all the time," her mother told the Chicago Tribune. Police said the teen's shooting followed deadly shootings in the Hyde Park and the Brainard neighborhood. Nightengale first killed Yiran Fan, 30, a University of Chicago graduate student, as he sat in a parked car, before fatally shooting Aisha Nevell, 46, a security guard, in the vestibule of a nearby apartment building. He also wounded a woman who was in the lobby at the time, police said. The gunman then stole a car and travelled to a convenience store near the corner of 93rd and Halstead, where he shot two people, killing 30-year-old Anthony Faulkner, who recently moved back to Chicago. Nightengale was able to grab a cash register and flee the scene, continuing to fire as he left, according to police. He drove south on Halsted before firing into Smith's car. Related:Video: Police Shooting Ends Chicago-To-Evanston Murder SpreeEvanston Woman Identified As Victim In 'Random' Shooting SpreeVictims Identified In Shooting Spree From Chicago To EvanstonGunman Killed By Evanston Police After Shooting Spree In Chicago Despite Nightengale returning to the scene of the convenience store shooting after police arrived, opening fire on investigating officers and their cars, police appear to have lost track of him for nearly 45 minutes. During that time, he drove to Evanston, where he fatally shot 61-year-old Marta Torres, an Evanston grandmother and teaching assistant at Washington School in Evanston/Skokie School District 65, police said. Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown defended the department's response on the night of the shooting. "When you hear this whole story, it seems that you have a crystal ball of what he's doing next, and we all know we don't have a crystal ball where he goes next," Brown said. "We are responding to the scene as these crimes are happening, getting information, and again, he's going to the next while we are trying to keep up with what's happened previously." Evanston Mayor Steve Hagerty praised the officers who ended the deadly rampage. "Thanks to their quick response and heroic actions, Evanston Police officers shot and killed the gunman and brought the bloodshed to an end in a busy commercial area before anyone else could be hurt or killed," Hagerty said in a statement after the shooting. "While we are still learning more about the offender, his motive, and the totality of yesterday's tragic events, one thing is clear: If not for the brave actions of Evanston and Chicago police, many more innocent lives would have been lost." Police said Nightengale appeared to target his victims at random. His motive is uncertain. But in a series of erratic videos posted to social media in the days leading up to the shooting, he described targeting vulnerable victims for shooting or carjacking and warned he was "going to just blow up the whole community." In some, he could be seen brandishing a pistol similar to the gun he dropped when he was shot dead by Evanston police.