Girl, 17, dies days after North Lawndale birthday shooting, marking 21st homicide from Fourth of July weekend

A girl died days after she was shot an hour into her 17th birthday in an apartment in North Lawndale on the West Side, marking the 21st homicide from the violent Fourth of July weekend. Friday was Aaronayjah Medley’s 17th birthday, and she and several friends gathered at her cousin’s apartment in the 1200 block of South Central Park Avenue to hang out and charge their phones after attending a Fourth of July party, police said. As Medley sat on a couch, another person, only described as male, began playing with a gun when it went off and hit her in the head about 1:40 a.m., according to a police report. “I was in the kitchen when I heard the gunshot and ran to my friend,” one of the witnesses told police, according to the report. Everyone darted outside and they directed officers to the third-floor apartment where Medley, who suffered a gunshot wound to the left side of her head, lay bleeding on the couch. She was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, initially in “grave” condition, according to the report. Medley was pronounced dead at 3:20 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy is scheduled. A gun was recovered from behind the couch where Medley was sitting, authorities said. Late Wednesday morning, the area outside the apartment building was mostly quiet, with a few passersby and a group of men sitting on a stoop across the street. Medley lived nearby with her mother, and relatives declined to comment.No one was reported in custody. Her death was the 21st from shootings over the that left more than 100 people wounded or dead.