CHICAGO, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- A young Chicago girl is dead and her cousin is in critical condition after two people on bicycles shot both as they played jump-rope, authorities said.
Tanaja Stokes, 8, was shot in the head and died within an hour Tuesday evening, police said. Her 5-year-old cousin Ariana Jones was also shot in the head and was in critical condition, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The girls' grandfather said he was in front of the family home when he saw two males ride up on bicycles at about 8 p.m.
Robert Wise said he and a second cousin of the girls ran to protect the girls, but it was too late.
Officials are investigating whether a neighborhood fight about 20 minutes earlier might have led to the shooting, police said.
Neighborhood resident Patricia Clay said the incident began with an argument between two teen girls and a teen boy, then at least 20 teens became involved in the dispute, she said.
Witnesses to the shooting said the children were not targeted by the shooters.
They "just started shooting," said Wise. "It was nobody out there but women and kids."
"They know what those sounds mean," Minnie Wise, the girls' cousin said. "And they know to run. But [Tanaja] didn't get a chance to run."
