A witness said the teens scattered and ran out of the park in a panic after the shots were fired. Pendleton and a boy who also was shot collapsed about a block away, in front of one of the upscale condo row houses that line Oakenwald.
Pendleton was struck once in the back, and died at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital less than an hour later.
The teenage boy who was shot was struck in the leg. He also was being treated at Comer Children’s Hospital.
Jennifer West lives right near where the victims fell. She said shootings are rare in the neighborhood.
“We hardly … have any crime. There’s been a few break-ins over the past two years since we’ve been here, but nothing that’s ever caused alarm,” she said.
Another resident, who called 911, said she heard six shots.
Another neighbor was shaken by the eruption of violence.
“There has to be an end to it. It’s just too much. The children cannot go to school. They’re in fear,” Bonita O’Bannion said.
Police said Pendleton had no gang affiliation and likely wasn’t the intended target. Several of the teens with her at the time, however, were believed to be gang members.
