Chicago's Gun Control Laws Didn't Save This 9-Year-Old
Nine-year-old Tyshawn Lee was shot after swinging on a swingset in a park near his grandma's house, after putting down the basketball he loved, and then lured to a park where gang members shot him.

Steve Schmadeke, Jeremy Gorner and Rosemary Regina Sobol report in the Chi Trib that gang bangers out for revenge targeted 83-pound Lee, in the wake of a shooting of a mother and her 25-year-old son, who was killed:

As two of the gang members drove off in a black SUV, the one who remained in Dawes Park picked up Tyshawn's basketball and dribbled it a few times before handing it back to him. He then lured the boy into a nearby alley about the same time the SUV re-emerged. As the two looked on from the SUV, the one gang member shot Tyshawn five times, killing him, according to prosecutors and police. The fourth-grader's basketball was found a few feet away.

Corey Morgan, 27, the first suspect to be charged in Tyshawn's slaying, was ordered held without bail Friday. It was Morgan whose brother was slain and mother wounded after they left a gang-intervention meeting run by Chicago police Oct. 13.

Tyshawn's mother, Karla Lee, said she grew up with Morgan and was disgusted to learn of his alleged involvement in what authorities have called an execution.

"The feeling? Lord Jesus, it's like I just can't believe it," she told reporters moments after leaving court. "The same guy I grew up with, talked with, played at the park and stuff ... (is) the same one that murdered my baby.

"I'm going to be sick. I did not know that they did him like that," said Lee, who learned details of the slaying for the first time from attending bond court at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.

Prosecutors alleged that Morgan announced his intentions to go after the families of gang rivals after his brother was killed and mother wounded by gunfire.

"He allegedly said since his brother was killed and his mama was shot he was going to kill grandmas, mamas, kids and all," said Assistant State's Attorney George Canellis Jr., supervisor of the office's felony review division.

Horrifying:

One of the bullets nearly severed Tyshawn's right thumb, a wound likely caused when the boy saw the gun and raised his hand to protect himself, Canellis said. A shot to the head was fatal.