CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: In a tragic incident that has shaken a community, a man's complaint about neighborhood kids being too loud took a horrifying turn. Michael Goodman living on the 3500 block of North Long Avenue, Chicago has been charged with one felony count of first-degree murder in the shooting death of 9-year-old Sarabi Medina outside her Portage Park home over the weekend.
Medina was playing with a group of friends on Saturday, August 5, when Goodman approached them from across the street. He pulled out a gun and shot Medina in the head, as reported by police, neighbors, and family. Following the tragic incident, the young girl was rushed to Stroger Hospital in critical condition but, unfortunately, was pronounced dead. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office officially classified her death as a homicide. While police mentioned that the young girl was 8 years old, the medical examiner recorded her age as 9.
Who is Michael Goodman?
Goodman is a 43-year-old man who lives on the 3500 block of North Long Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. He has been charged with one felony count of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of a 9-year-old girl. "Yesterday, when he came out, before he shot her, he had said something about them being too loud," neighbor Megan Kelley told the Chicago Sun-Times, adding that Goodman frequently caused a scene when kids played on the block. "Just little kids playing, he would come out just yelling about the noise. It just didn’t make sense, none of it made sense," Kelley said. "Everybody in the community would just tell him they are just kids having fun playing, just let them be."
According to neighbors, Goodman was not well-liked or popular within the community. "You kind of just stayed away from him," Kelley said. "I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this whole thing," said Angee Gonzalez Rodriguez, a relative. "It just makes no sense, no sense at all." "How dare you, you cannot just take anyone's life... a child," Angee Gonzalez Rodriguez, a cousin of Medina's father told NBC. "What did that child do to you? I hope he gets what he deserves. I hope he gets the book thrown at him."
"You killed an innocent child, an innocent baby girl for what reason? Now, these parents have to mourn their baby and everything else, and every time they turn around and look, they'll know it was across the street. Nobody's going to let their kids come around here and play. People aren't going to take their kids to this park because they are terrified. We just wanted to pay our respects to her and to her family. But it's just crazy," neighbor Sue Kyser told ABC.
A neighbor living in the same building as the Medinas heard the gunshots and promptly called the police. Additionally, another witness who observed the shooting mentioned that Medina was riding her scooter just moments before she was tragically shot, per NBC. A different neighbor, living a block away, was sitting near his front door on Saturday when he heard sirens pass by the area. He shared that the neighborhood is generally quiet, and such incidents of shooting are rare occurrences. "I was sitting in the front room and I saw a light. I thought it was an ambulance because we have the hospital over here; I guess that was a police car," the man said, who did not want to share his name. "It’s quiet over here."
Michael Goodman has been charged with first-degree murder
Following the shooting incident, Goodman, who was known to the police as a "known offender", engaged in a struggle with Medina's father at the scene. Her father immediately rushed towards Goodman, who was wielding the gun at the time. "He ran over there, football-tackled this guy," community activist Andrew Holmes said, according to AP News. During the encounter, Goodman was shot above his eye, resulting in an injury. He was then taken to a nearby medical center, where he was initially in critical condition due to the gunshot wound. A weapon was recovered at the scene, and the investigation into the shooting is still ongoing, according to law enforcement officials.
