Neighbor of gunned down Chicago girl, 9, charged with her murder
The Chicago man accused of gunning down a 9-year-old girl riding her shooter over the weekend has been charged with first-degree murder and will appear in court Tuesday.
Michael Goodman, 43, allegedly approached a group of people walking on the sidewalk across the street from his home at about 9:40 p.m. Saturday night and shot 9-year-old Serabi Medina in the head, according to cops.
The accused gunman, who had complained about neighborhood kids making noise, was tackled by the girl’s father, who witnessed the shooting, ABC 7 Chicago reported.
“He saved other people because God only knows what that monster intended to do that night, how many lives he was going to take and if it wasn’t for Serabi’s father, it could be a lot more,” relative Angee Gonzalez Rodriguez said.
Serabi was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital. Chicago police initially said the girl was 8, but the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office later confirmed she was 9 years old, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Her cause of death was a gunshot wound to her head, and the manner of death was classified as a homicide, according to the autopsy results.
During the struggle with Serabi’s father, the gunman was shot above his left eye. He was later taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition.
Goodman, who was known to Chicago police prior to the shooting, has been charged with first-degree murder. He is scheduled to appear in bond court Tuesday.
Neighbors said Goodman had complained of kids being too loud before and even confronted Serabi’s father about the noise before the shooting.
Serabi, who went by the nickname “Bibi,” was looking forward to going back to school and starting fourth grade this fall.
Many of the girl’s loved ones gathered for a vigil Monday outside the family’s Portage Park home, where a street-side memorial has sprung up since the weekend.
A growing mountain of stuffed animals and sunflowers have been placed in honor of the girl near the scene of the shooting.
The young girl’s family had been plagued by gun violence before — Serabi’s mother, 29-year-old Blanca Miranda, was shot and killed in 2018.
Neighbors said the family moved to their Portage Park apartment shortly after her death.
In a statement, the Chicago school district said, “With great sadness, we are devastated at the loss of another young life.”
“The thoughts and condolences of the entire Chicago Public Schools (CPS) family are with all those impacted by this tragedy.”
The young girl’s death comes amid a violent weekend in Chicago, where cops said that a total of 27 people were shot in 25 separate incidents between Friday evening and Sunday night. The weekend shootings left a total of seven people dead.
