She Just Wanted to Grow Up Without Being Shot
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Less than a month after asking a Milwaukee police officer, ‘Will you keep me safe?’ 9-year-old Za’layia got a tragic answer—as she watched TV in her own home.
Police Capt. Shunta Boston-Smith of the Milwaukee Police was on a goodwill stroll of Milwaukee’s north side in late April when she paused to jump rope with 9-year-old Za’layia Jenkins.
Za’layia asked a question that had a particular urgency in a city where 15 children have been shot in the past two years, including a 10-year-old killed by a stray round in a playground and a 5-year-old killed by a stray round as she sat watching television on her grandmother’s lap and a 13-month-old who was killed by a stray round while playing with toys at home.
“Will you keep me safe?”
The official answer was announced to the press on Tuesday by another Milwaukee Police Department captain, Aaron Raap, commander of the metropolitan investigations division.
“On Thursday, May 5, shortly after 8 o’clock in the evening, young Za’layia Jenkins, born 5/17 of 2006, 9 years old, turns 10 today, sustained a gunshot wound while seated in a house visiting family,” Raap said.
Za’layia had also been sitting inside, watching television when she was struck by a stray round fired in the street. She had been rushed to Children’s Hospital, where she had been listed in critical condition.
“Late yesterday afternoon, the MPD was notified by the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s office that Children’s Hospital had notified them that Za’layia was in a condition of brain death,” Raap continued. “Essentially she had expired.”
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