In January 2013, 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was shot and killed in Chicago, upon her return from performing at Forever President Barack Obama’s second inauguration.
On Thursday (Aug 23), a jury convicted suspected gang member, Mickiael Ward, in the murder of Pendleton, for firing the fatal shot that killed the honor student.
The ruling came just one day after another jury convicted Kenneth Williams of first-degree murder, for driving the getaway car in the 2013 in incident.
According to ABC 7 Chicago, the shooting occurred at Harsh Park, where Pendleton and a group of friends were taking shelter from the rain, a mile from Obama’s Kenwood home. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
During trial, Ward testified that he was ordered to fire on a group of teens in retaliation for a gang shooting that prosecutors say left Williams injured six months prior. Although the defense argued that the police refused to follow up on other leads, and officials coerced Ward’s confession, a jury believed otherwise and found him guilty of first-degree murder.
Both Ward and Williams were 18 at the time of the shooting.
