A 12-Year-Old Girl Fatally Shot on Her Birthday -Chicago Police Announce Two Men are Charged in the Crime

On March 2 at around 8 p.m., police said bullets were fired down the 2300 block of West 72nd Street, where Nyzireya Moore, then 12 years old, was riding with family members. It was reported to the police that the girl had been shot in the back of the head, and her loved ones rushed her to Comer Children’s Hospital, where she subsequently succumbed to her injuries.

Malik Parish, 22, and Abdul Ali, 20, were arrested and charged with first-degree murder on Tuesday morning, according to Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown. Police Chief Brown also revealed that Ali was charged with unauthorized use of a weapon and that Parish was charged with possessing a stolen motor vehicle.

“These criminals deserve the total weight of the law.” Chicago Police Superintendent says

Brown claims Parish has been arrested 11 times and is a convicted criminal, while Ali has been jailed four times. According to Brown, a third criminal is still at large. “People with a criminal record like theirs are violent by nature. These criminals deserve the total weight of the law.” Brown says.

A tip from an anonymous source led to the arrests, according to Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan. One of the suspects allegedly confessed on camera that they and another person were firing at a vehicle they believed belonged to a member of the opposing gang when a stray bullet struck the girl in the back of the head, according to the police.

It took nearly eight months for the anonymous tip to break the case, despite the publication of a CCTV video depicting the attack and a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. However, “the key part is we obtained some anonymous, an anonymous witness from the community,” as Deenihan put it, “none of that, in the beginning, created any leads.”

source: abc7chicago.com