Dad, Students Mourn Third Clemente Student To Die In Recent Months
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Another young student in Chicago has been lost to gun violence; this time, it's a senior at Roberto Clemente High School on the West Side.
Frances Colon is the third Clemente student killed in recent months, CBS 2 Susanna Song reports.
On Monday, Frances' father, Jose, recalled how on Friday afternoon President Obama came to town and they heard the president's helicopters fly overhead. Obama flew into Chicago to address gun violence.
A few hours later, Frances Colon was dead.
Jose Colon arrived at Clemente High School on Monday morning and tied balloons to the flag pole.
At this time each morning, he brought her to school.
Today, he was alone and broke down in sobs.
On Friday night, Frances Colon was shot in the back as she left a Humboldt Park store with some friends.
Police say the senior was not the intended target. Her father said she came out of the store with a bag of candy and snacks and a gunman started shooting.
"This is outrageous, too many guns out here man," Jose Colon said. "These young kids have no aim, shooting all crazy. They hit innocent bystanders, people who want to do something for themselves, for their lives.
"My daughter was going to become a lawyer."
A Chicago police "blue light" camera flashed Monday night on the corner near where the shooting occurred.
But Colon's mom and dad say police told them the camera wasn't on Friday. The family wants to know why.
"If that camera would have been on, it would have caught the guy that did the shooting, because they said he ran around the corner," Colon says.
Classmates and teachers at comforted each other before school Monday.
"She's a really awesome friend, and I am going to miss her," said Holly Franklin, a senior at Clemente.
Senior Victoria Santiago said: "She was really bubbly, always goofing off with people. She was always really good at drawing. I admired her for all her drawings. It's hard really, hard to go through something like this."
That same is true for Jose Colon, who had a message for the thug who killed his child.
"You have to stop. You're hitting young innocent kids. You're wrong man, turn yourself in!"
Mayor Rahm Emanuel called the Colon family on Sunday morning to offer his condolences.
Frances Colon was planning to attend Northeastern University in the fall.
