One Of Two Girls Shot At Grade School Returns To Class

CHICAGO (CBS) -- One of the two girls shot on a school playground Friday went back to class Monday.

The shooting happened outside of Warren Elementary School. Students were at a picnic to celebrate the end of the year when someone in a dark colored Jeep fired shots in their direction. 7-year-old Jayla Wright was shot in the hip and thigh and 13-year-old Dakayla Hart was shot in the hand.

A Chicago Police car greeted students at Warren as they ended the school day on Monday. They were on patrol after last week's gang shooting, which several classmates witnessed.

Counselors were available at Warren to help students deal with any trauma. Despite the school's effort to make their students feel safe, 9-year-old Desmond Webb spent the day with his grandmother instead of in school.

"I was scared that it might happen again, and I didn't want to get caught in it," the third grader said.

Authorities say two former students, who had been expelled from Warren, tried to crash the cookout. Security guards refused to let them in, but both continued to hang around outside the playground. The dark colored Jeep then drove by, started shooting, and the former students ran into the crowd of innocent students.

Neither of the girls' injuries were life-threatening; both were released later Friday from Comer Children's Hospital. But the bullets that hit Hart's hand shattered the bones in her fingers; she is scheduled to undergo surgery Tuesday.

Wright did not return to school Monday, but Hart did. Relatives say she was shaken but determined not to let the shooting affect her life.

Two juveniles and a 19-year-old were arrested for the shooting. The 19-year-old, Raekwon Hudson, appeared in court Sunday, where he was held without bond.

The two girls in this shooting represent the reason the Centers for Disease Control is calling the number of children shot everyday in the country a public health crisis. The CDC says 19 children are shot everyday in the U.S., and 1,300 children die from shootings every year. Nearly 6,000 are injured. Most at risk at boys, teens and African Americans.