The 8-year-old Melissa Ortega shot to death in Little Village is highlighting the city’s worrying gun violence.
Ortega was crossing the street with her mother when police say 16-year-old Emilio Corripio shot her. Prosecutors say the teen was shooting at rival gang members. Xavier Guzmán, 27, the suspected getaway driver, was also arrested. Both Guzman and Corripio face first-degree murder charges and are being held without bail.
In a statement, Ortega’s mother, Araceli Leaños, said: “I forgive you. You were also a victim. At 16, the community failed you just like it failed my precious baby. Although I hope that in the many years you spend in prison, you will have time to reflect on your actions because you took away the most valuable thing in my life.”
Despite the swift arrest, some community groups say their calls for more resources to address the violence have gone unheeded.
Baltazar Enríquez, president of the community-based organization Little Village Community Council, says he believes that justice cannot be done in this case, but efforts can be made to prevent it from happening again. He believes a starting point would be to add mental health resources to the community.
“We have been asking for years for a mental health clinic to be set up here in Little Village. The community is traumatized. We need a mental health clinic to help them deal with this trauma,” he said. “So you have generations of trauma and the only way they find a way to solve their problems is to get even or go out and commit cathartic crimes where they enjoy killing each other now… So we are asking that our politicians, especially Chuy Garcia, come and help us open a mental health clinic.”
Ana Solano, organizer of the community organization Join Little Village, attributes the widespread gang-related violence in Little Village to the relative poverty of its residents.
“I am aware that there are gangs in our neighborhood, but I think it is a deeper issue than that. I think we have a problem of poverty and it is not due to a moral failure of our own, but that we systematically lack resources, they are closing our mental health clinics, “said Solano.
Solano points to the police budget to illustrate how he thinks funds could be better allocated to address the violence in Little Village.
“Right now, their budget is $1.89 billion … which could give us 1,250 anti-violence advocates, 400 CPS social workers, 300 CPS school psychologists and 10 mental health clinics,” he said. “So I’m not exactly sure what the police should do, but I do know that not all of us feel safer with a stronger police presence and I would ask that those funds be allocated to the necessary resources.”
Chicago police arrested the suspects days after the shooting, but Enriquez believes the apprehension of the suspects was the result of community input rather than police effort.
“The community solved this crime,” Enríquez said. “I mean, the police department played a role, but the community spoke up and said ‘no, this is what happened and here’s the video,’ so the community solved the problem. So we know how to police ourselves.”
Enriquez also places blame for Corripio’s crime on the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, as Corripio committed the murder while on intensive juvenile probation after pleading guilty to two carjackings.
“Kim Foxx has failed the county. He has learned to let criminals go when they commit a heinous crime. He has learned to put them on surveillance. So I think heinous crimes should stay in jail,” he said. “There must be responsibilities of both the government and the community, but here the government has totally failed the community because it does not send resources and whenever there is a crime that is being committed against us, we keep quiet because we do not trust the department of police, we do not trust the government because they have deprived us of our rights to participate in the system.”
Enriquez says her organization is working to address the mental health needs she sees in the community on her own.
“We are going to open a mental health clinic here in Little Village where insurance is not required. Your legal status does not matter. You can come in and say, hey, I have a problem and get the treatment you need.
