Family, city officials send message to community at Tyshawn Lee’s funeral

Family, city officials send message to community at Tyshawn Lee’s funeral

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Family, friends and officials from Chicago’s South Side are remembering the short life of Tyshawn Lee on Tuesday.

Police believe the nine-year-old was lured into an alley last week where he was executed because of his father’s alleged involvement in an ongoing gang conflict.

Hundreds gathered at Saint Sabina’s in Auburn-Gresham to offer their remembrances — and messages to their community.

The Associated Press reports:

A Chicago priest says the funeral for a 9-year-old boy who was killed in an alleged gang execution marks “a new low” for the city.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger presided over Tuesday’s funeral for Tyshawn Lee, who was shot in the head in an alley on Nov. 2 as he headed to his grandmother’s house.

Chicago police say the death was the result of two gangs fighting in a string of retaliatory events dating back months.

The boy’s body arrived at St. Sabina Church on Chicago’s South Side in small red casket. Pfleger, an anti-violence activist, told mourners that it was “a new low for Chicago” and that the city “has to face itself.”

Mourners included Mayor Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and actor-rapper Nick Cannon.

WBEZ’s Michael Puente was there this morning.