Chicago Teen Dies From Asthma Attack After Witnessing Shooting
Jessica Williams, 16, was at a birthday celebration for her late cousin who was killed in 2012. After an altercation at the event, allegedly over a parking space, four people were shot and two of them died from their wounds.
According to DNA Info, Williams, who was heading into her sophomore year at Chicago Vocational Career Academy, reportedly began to have an asthma attack after running from the fatal shooting. She later died from the attack.
“She wasn’t wheezing, wasn’t coughing, wasn’t showing no symptoms” said Williams’ grandmother, Ilene Pearson. “That why I let her go to the party. God help me.”
The shooting occurred at 12:18 a.m. this past Thursday after the shooter got into a fight with people standing on the sidewalk. He returned, opened fire and injured multiple people. According to a witness, he then tried to walk away before being hit, falling to the ground and being shot multiple times in the head.
“She left behind a lot,” said Sharron Smith, Williams’ mother. “She was an all-around good kid.” Smith says her daughter was a cheerleader and a member of the junior ROTC.
This death shows just how far the trauma of gun violence can reach, even if victims aren’t found at either side of a gun.