‘I lost my princess,’ says mother of 8-year-old Melissa Ortega as officials announce charges in child’s slaying
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A man and a 16-year-old boy were charged with murder Wednesday in the fatal shooting of 8-year-old Melissa Ortega, who was shot in the head as she walked through Little Village holding hands with her mother last weekend, Chicago police Superintendent David Brown and city leaders announced.
“We have found the offenders responsible for taking Melissa’s life and they have been charged,’’ Brown said at anews conference Wednesday.
“Our city has been shaken, and no one can make sense of this tragedy,” Brown said.
Even in a city wracked by violence and by no means unfamiliar with heartbreaking headlines, Melissa’s death cut at the heart of Chicago’s ongoing violence problem. A young family came to the city seeking a better life, and instead a child was cut down in broad daylight in a gang shooting.
The announcement of charges Wednesday included no less than Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Brown, two aldermen, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and the Police Department’s chief of detectives, among others.
“Imagine coming to Chicago to make a better life for your family and losing your child literally as you’re walking down the street hand in hand thinking about lighter moments,” Lighfoot said, appearing to hold back tears.
“As a mother myself it’s hard for me to imagine the pain that Araceli (Melissa’s mother) feels,” Lightfoot said. “No one should have to endure this kind of pain.”
Melissa’s family had just immigrated to the U.S. last year.
The teenager charged, who Brown did not identify, was charged as an adult with murder, attempted murder and two counts of discharging a firearm and was believed to be the shooter, Brown said.
Authorities did not identify him, but he was expected in bond court Thursday. The Tribune is not identifying him before authorities announce his name, but a review of court documents showed he had a history of juvenile arrests including for carjacking, and he was put on probation just Dec. 7 in his latest case.
Xavier Guzman, 27, who was allegedly driving the vehicle used during the attack, was also charged with murder and attempted murder.
Pastor Matt DeMateo, of New Life Community Church, who has been helping Melissa’s mother, Aracelia Leanos, shared a statement on her behalf at the news conference.
“God gained an angel but I will always remember her infectious smile,’’ said Leanos in the statement. As DeMateo read, the room at police headquarter grew silent.
“To the aggressor. I forgive you. You were a victim too. As a 16-year-old, the community failed you, just like it failed my precious baby,” Leanos’ statement read.
“Words cannot describe the pain I am feeling. On January 22 I lost my greatest treasure in life,’’ DeMateo read. “I lost my princess. She was the reason why I got up every morning.”
Leanos’ family was “filled with dreams” and had “high aspirations” when they moved to the United States, her mother said. “We imagined a better life here. We came in search of the American Dream we so famously hear of but instead I get to live a nightmare for the rest of my life.”
Leanos pleaded that Melissa’s death not be in vain and that the community should be filled with sadness and anger, too.
“How is it possible that a little girl dies in broad daylight? How is it possible that we can send men to Mars but we can’t fix the gun violence in our city?” her statement read.
According to Brown, just before 3 p.m. Saturday officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert call to the corner of 26th Street and Komensky Avenue. Three alleged gang members were standing at that corner when someone emerged near an alley south of them and fired a handgun, striking Melissa in the head and the intended victim, an unidentified 29-year-old man, in the back as he tried to run from the gunfire, Brown said.
Officials said the 29-year-old was in fair condition after the shooting.
Detectives tracked the car used in the shooting using surveillance video. Video showed a passenger get out of the vehicle, fire shots then get back in the vehicle and flee the scene.
A man and his 9-year-old daughter were parked nearby and their vehicle was also hit several times by gunfire. The two “narrowly escaped harm,” Brown said.
The car used in the slaying was found Monday and officials identified the driver, Brown said. Detectives also found the handgun used in the shooting in the vehicle, which matched the shell casings and bullets found at the scene, Brown said.
In her rare appearance at police headquarters, Foxx called the killing “horrific” and said Melissa’s life was an American dream lost.
Foxx and Brown said it’s important for community members to work with police to help charge shooting suspects as they did in this case.
“We could not be here without the commitment of the members of the community who are willing to step up and speak out on behalf of Melissa and those who have been impacted by her tragic death. We are grateful to the community,” Foxx said.
In the statement read by DeMateo, Melissa’s mother related that moments before the shooting, she and the girl had been holding hands when the child asked Leanos to buy her a hamburger. “Of course,’’ her mother replied. “You promise?” Melissa said. Her mom asked her if she wanted one now or after they went to the bank. “We can go later, I’m not that hungry right now,” Melissa said.
“In that moment I promised her I would buy her that hamburger. However, I couldn’t. I wasn’t able to fulfill that promise. My daughter stopped holding my hand and without explanation, I found her on the floor with a puddle of blood and a bullet to her head” Leanos said in the statement.
Lightfoot said she hopes the announcement of charges against the two men will bring some solace to the community and sends a message to criminals.
Little Village residents are afraid to leave their homes as the community has endured too much violence, Lightfoot said. She said city leaders need to work with stakeholders to end the violence.
“It’s way past time that we act, that we come together, that we bring peace to this beautiful, vibrant community of Little Village,” Lightfoot said. “We have to provide every possible support and resource that amplifies the strength and vibrancy of this community.”
Melissa was a third grader at Emiliano Zapata Academy. She and her family had just moved to the Little Village neighborhood last August from her hometown of Los Sauces, in the Mexican state of Zacatecas, where she is expected to be buried, according to information from a verified GoFundMe account.
As of Wednesday morning, the online fundraiser had amassed donations totaling more than $68,000 from some 1,700 contributors hoping to help the family transport Melissa back to her native Mexico for burial.
In a statement at the time, the Chicago Teachers Union lamented the shooting of another innocent child and extended its condolences to the Ortega family and all those who knew Melissa from Zapata Academy, saying it “sends its love to Melissa’s family and the Zapata Academy community, and wish them peace and healing from this heartbreaking tragedy.”
Chicago Tribune’s Paige Fry and Gregory Pratt contributed.
