Students at an elementary school in violence-plagued Roseland know all too well about death, over the years detailing their worries in essays and documentaries.
“They truly are afraid for their lives,” said Chandra Byrd-Wright, principal at Dunne Elementary Math, Science and Technology Academy in Roseland. “This is their reality, and they wonder if they’re going to be next.”
Their fears came true Wednesday night when a bubbly student who graduated last year was shot in the head while playing on her block filled with parents and children. She underwent surgery to reduce swelling in her brain.
Taccara Swain, 15, was walking with two cousins toward the two-flat home they share in the 11000 block of South Normal Avenue when shots rang out about 8 p.m., family said.
Bullets pierced homes, cars — and Swain — as she reached down to carry her 2-year-old cousin home.
“I saw my cousin on the ground and I screamed,” said Cherrelle McCray, 18. “She was screaming and kicking in pain.”
Police say Swain was caught in crossfire. At least two cars were driving on Normal when there was an exchange of gunfire.
“That block was known to be quiet and peaceful,” Calumet Area Lt. Anthony Carothers said of Normal Avenue. “It’s recently had some issues … Whatever the catalyst is, I don’t know yet.”
Police are pulling video footage from nearby cameras. Police Supt. Jody Weis said Swain was an innocent victim of a possible gang feud.
“We don’t know that for sure,” Weis said. “It’s just that the [gunfire] is pretty consistent with what we’ve seen when there are two gangs maybe feuding with each other.”
The bullet that struck Swain passed through her head, and two other shots grazed her neck and head, McCray said. After surgery Thursday, the girl was transferred from intensive care at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn to a children’s unit.
Earlier on the day of the shooting, the girl’s father bought her a used Chevrolet Monte Carlo in anticipation of her 16th birthday in November and obtaining a driver’s license.
More Top Picks Best Weather Radios
A talkative girl who likes texting, boys and keeping her nails looking sharp, Swain is supposed to start her sophomore year at Julian High School in a few weeks, McCray said.
Two doors from Swain’s house, Telisa Clark runs a day-care center from her home. She pointed out nearly a dozen bullet holes in her front siding left by the Wednesday night shooting. Two of her children were walking to a nearby store at the time.
“She’s traumatized,” Clark said of her 13-year-old daughter, who stayed home Thursday from her year-round school.
Next door to Clark, the front window of Freddie Lindsey’s home is marked with a bullet hole surrounded by cracks shaped like a spider web. The bullet shattered the back of a pot he and his wife received as a gift when they married about 40 years ago.
The bullet landed on the floor in Lindsey’s living room at a spot where his grandchildren often play video games, he said. He and his family were eating a pot roast dinner in the back of their home when they heard the shots.
Nothing like that has happened in Lindsey’s 31 years in the house.
“It makes me angry,” Lindsey, 64, said as he sipped a cup of coffee. “We got little kids on this block and they got to play somewhere.”
Despite the shooting, families on the tight-knit block still plan a block party Saturday.
Dunne, which has about 400 preschool through 8th-grade students, became a year-round school this year and started classes on Monday, three weeks earlier than ever before.
School officials said the change came in part to shield students from street violence.
———–