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 Initially, police had believed that the fourth grader, Tyshawn
Lee, was killed in crossfire on Monday on the city's South Side.
At a news conference in the alley where the boy was killed, Police
Superintendent Garry McCarthy said Lee's father was involved in a
gang and that the death was linked to rivalry with another group.
McCarthy said the father was not cooperating with police.
"This is a different level," McCarthy said. "These are
non-combatants now being assassinated... This is an innocent child,
this is a 9-year-old child, targeted, lured to this spot and
murdered. This is different."
Like a number of other U.S. cities, Chicago has seen an increase in
murders this year. Police reported 391 murders from Jan. 1 to Oct.
25, up 18 percent from the same period of 2014.
 FBI Director James Comey said recently that violent crime may be up
because police are holding back from aggressive tactics, fearful of
being videotaped and accused of brutality, but other experts say the
ready availability of guns, or a growing heroin trade may be to
blame.
FATHER SAYS NOT IN A GANG
Lee's father, Pierre Stokes, appeared in the area after the news
conference and was questioned by police. Stokes told reporters
afterward that he was not a "gangbanger type" and could tell police
nothing. He said he didn't know who would want to hurt him or his
son.
"The only thing I can do to help is to help my son," he said. "Lay
him down peacefully."
Father Michael Pfleger, a priest and social activist from the
neighborhood, told reporters that in the past gang members left each
other's children alone, but that the code had eroded.
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"A baby was assassinated right behind us in this alley.... We have
gone to a new low," said Pfleger, who offered to personally pay to
relocate anyone who came forward with information but was scared of
retaliation.
McCarthy, Pfleger and community leaders pleaded for people to get
over their fear and to abandon the no-snitch code of Chicago's
streets and come forward with information about the murder. They
offered a $35,000 award.
Over the Fourth of July weekend this year, police said, a 7-year-old
Chicago boy was shot dead by gang members going after his father,
who allegedly is in a gang. A Chicago man has been arrested and
charged in that case.
(Writing by Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Sandra Maler and Eric Walsh)
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