Girl Shot While Planning Party Dies On Her 12th Birthday

HARVEY, IL — Kentavia Blackful, the young girl shot in the head inside her home in Harvey while planning her 12th birthday party Monday night, has died. She died Tuesday at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn on her 12th birthday, multiple media outlets have reported.

Blackful, a student at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School in Harvey, was hit by a stray bullet while at her home near 158th and Paulina around 9 p.m. She was at her computer designing the T-shirt she planned to wear on her birthday when the bullet flew through the home, according to a Chicago Sun-Times report. The report states that multiple bullets flew through the window of the home.

Community activist Andrew Holmes and others have offered a reward for information on the shooting. Anyone with information should call the Harvey Police Department or the anonymous tip line U TELL US at 1-800-883-5587.

There will be a balloon release to remember the young girl at her home in Harvey Wednesday night, WGN reports. Information on services has not been made available as of noon on Wednesday.