Family, activists and residents rallied and released balloons Friday night on the Near West Side to honor the life of Reign Ware, 5, who was shot and killed Sunday.
Reign was shot in the abdomen around 3:30 a.m. Sunday while sitting in a car on the 200 block of South Campbell Avenue on the Near West Side, according to police. She was one of 41 people shot and 10 killed in Memorial Day weekend violence, according to preliminary information from police. A 24-year-old man was also injured in the shooting that killed Reign, police said.
On Friday evening, about 100 people surrounded Reign’s mother, Raven Adams, hoisting pictures and a cardboard cutout of the girl over their heads in an open field near the reported site of the shooting before they let go of balloons in the shape of unicorns and hearts. The cutout featured a unicorn and the words “forever Reign.”
“I wish I could get her back,” Adams said. “I wish I could see her again.”
She held a bouquet of flowers and wore a pendant that read “always in our hearts.”
Earlier Friday, elected officials and activists held a short march and rally at the intersection of West Jackson Boulevard and South Campbell Avenue. They offered their support to the family and called for an end to gun violence throughout Chicago and particularly on the city’s West Side.
A police department spokesperson said Friday night that no one was in custody in connection with Reign’s death and detectives were investigating the shooting.
Balloons are released at a memorial at Monroe Street and Campbell Avenue in Chicago on May 31, 2024, days after Reign Ware, age 5, was fatally shot. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
