Hadiya Pendleton's family still pushing for end to gun violence 10 years later
CHICAGO (CBS) -- This weekend there is a strong push to put an end to gun violence. That push includes a celebration for Hadiya Pendleton Saturday afternoon. Her murder rocked the nation and sparked a movement.
But ten years have passed since she was caught in the crossfire crossfire of a gang shooting, and nothing has changed. People at the event pointed to the violence in Chicago one week ago during Memorial Day Weekend when 53 people were shot, but they say that won't stop them from trying.
The birthday party was set up in a park now named for Hadiya, who was killed just days after she marched in then-President Barack Obama's second inauguration parade. Organizers say 1,000 people came out for the event, which was about creating a safe space for people of all ages and asking people to put down their guns.
Hadiya's father said he still thinks of his daughter as a teen, but after looking around the event, he now realizes her friends have grown up over the last decade. Some have children of their own. She would be 26 now.
He said the party is for peace, and that's exactly what they got.
"We just made a statement," Nathaniel Pendelton said. "We can have something, and it doesn't have to be violent. And we're not even attracting that crowd. So it's just a good thing."
So many people in the crowd wore orange, which was Hadiya's favorite color. It became a symbol of their movement to put an end to gun violence.
But the violence does continue.
Gretchen Baily was just a block away, separated by an open field, when a 65-year-old man was shot inside his own Chatham home on South Calumet Avenue Saturday afternoon.
His family says the man is a mechanic who would help out his neighbors.
He was shot through the stomach while underneath a car. Broken glass still hung Saturday from the door frame. The work shirt he was wearing was there after being stripped off before he was taken to the hospital.
"It's a real concern to me and I think there's some work that needs to be done to end this violence and the shooting that's going on," Bailey said.
No arrests have been made in the Chatham shooting.
