Ashake Banks said she opened a candy stand on the street of her North Austin block two weeks ago to keep kids close to their homes and maybe away from gang crossfire. 
 
 
 
 Late Wednesday night, Banks' 7-year-old daughter Heaven Sutton was sitting next to Banks as she sold snacks and snow cones when someone opened fire down the street around 10:45 p.m. A stray bullet hit the little girl as she ran back to her house in the 1700 block of North Luna Avenue, police and family say. 
 
 Heaven was shot in the back and died half an hour later. 
 
 
 
 "I opened up the candy store for the kids so they wouldn't have to be pulled back and forth on the block because there's been so much shooting," Banks said this morning. "I figured they (gang members) know us, they wouldn't come to the neighborhood and start shooting, but they really didn't even care. 
 
 
 
 "She looked forward every day to opening up the candy store, and for somebody just to come take her life, it's not right," Banks said. 
 
 
 
 She said the block was filled with children playing when two men came out out a gangway and one of them started shooting at a group of people standing on the sidewalk near the candy stand. "We're just sitting out here, normal, she's sitting next to me and I just heard shooting," Banks told WGN-TV. 
 
 
 
 Banks said she threw herself to the ground while her daughter ran for the family's home. Moments later, Banks said she found her daughter unconscious inside a hallway. 
 
 
 
 "I'm lost for words. That was my pride and joy," Banks said. The little girl had been looking forward to going to Disney World next month. "She just got her hair done, she was going to Disney World." 
 
 
 
 A 19-year-old man, described by police as a gang member, was wounded in the ankle and taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, police said. The girl was pronounced dead there at 11:16 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. 
 
 
 
 Heaven is the 20th person under the age of 17 to be killed by gunfire in Chicago this year, according to a Tribune crime analysis. 
 
 
 
 Police recently released statistics showing the number of Chicago Public School students shot this past school year -- 319 -- was the highest in four years. The toll from last weekend's gun violence in the city included the deaths of two boys, 13 and 14. 
 
 
 
 The Austin community, which includes the North Austin neighborhood, has seen 16 homicides so far this year -- four in the last week. 
 
 
 
 Banks said her daughter was frightened by all the violence around her home and had pleaded with her to move out. "She would say, 'Mom, let's move.' " 
 
 
 
 Banks had a message for the gangs in her neighborhood. "You all cannot just get away with killing my baby," she said. "You all took her life." 
 
 The slaying comes just days before state funding will run out for all five workers from the anti-violence group CeaseFire who mediate gang conflicts in Austin, according to the group. 
 
 
 
 Rick Velasquez, whose outreach organization relies on CeaseFire, said even if Gov. Pat Quinn secures more funding at the last minute, the workers would still have to be temporarily laid off. 
 
 
 
 “So how many murders are were going to wait until we get this thing moving?” said Velasquez, executive director of Youth Outreach Services. 
 
 
 
 Earlier this week, the city for the first time approved funding for 40 CeaseFire workers to work in two police districts where shootings and homicides have risen: Grand Crossing on the South Side and Ogden on the West Side. 
 
 
 
 Wednesday night’s shooting occurred in the Grand Central police district, which has seen significantly less gun violence than the other two districts. From January 1 through June 17 in Grand Central, there were 46 shootings compared to 56 during the same period in 2011, an 18 percent decrease, according to department statistics. Homicides were slightly up during that time, though: eight compared to five last year. 
 
 Representatives of CeaseFire visited the Banks home Thursday morning. 
 
 
 
 Longtime residents of the block say gang tensions have put residents on edge. Ron Ware, 61, said it was only a matter of time before a child or another innocent bystander was shot. 
 
 
 
 Parents only let their children outside for short periods of time, he said, and then only with close supervision, he said. 
 
 
 
 “I’ve seen a lot in my time, but it stuck in my head all night long – that baby holding her baby,” Ware said. “I couldn’t sleep.” 
 
 
 
 Heaven’s aunt, Sharmaine Sykes, 28, said Heaven was a “girly girl” always eager to dress up in jewelry and high-heel shoes. 
 
 
 
 But recent violence in the neighborhood started to make the happy-go-lucky child afraid, she said, and she had asked her mother to move out. 
 
 
 
 “It hurts so much,” said another relative, Nisha Odell, 18, Heaven’s cousin. “I’m trying not to cry.” 
 
 
 
 Odell said her younger cousin was joyful and made friends with everyone she met, young or old. “She’s the sweetest little girl you could think of,” Odell said. “She was playful. She talked to everybody. She kept a smile on everybody’s face.” 
 
 William Lee and Jeremy Gorner are reporters for the Tribune, Jae Miller is a reporter for WGN-TV 
 
 wlee@tribune.com 
 
 Twitter: @MidNoirCowboy ||||| ABC 
 
 The latest number signifying how bad Chicago's violence has become is a small one: 7. 
 
 That's how old Heaven Sutton was when she died Wednesday night of a gunshot to the back. She was selling candy at a stand in front of her house when someone down the street opened fire. A stray bullet struck her as she ran to the safety of her home. 
 
 "She loved to sing, dance and crack jokes. And she always smiled," her mother, Ashake Banks, told ABC News. Banks had opened the stand to keep a closer watch on and protect children in her violent neighborhood on Chicago's west side. "There was already shooting in the neighborhood," she said. "So I figured that if I set up a big tent and a candy store, it would keep the kids in the middle of the block instead of going down to the [corners] where all the activity was." 
 
 Banks believes the shooter was a gang member targeting someone else in the crowd near the stand. She had hoped the gangs would stay away from a place meant for kids. "But they really didn't even care…. They killed my baby." 
 
 Heaven's death is the latest of 253 murders so far this year in what has become a numbing drumbeat of violence. But her killing may be a crescendo. It prompted an angry Mayor Rahm Emanuel to lecture the gangs driving this staggering 38% increase in Chicago homicides. 
 
 Asked about this shooting at an economic development event, the mayor said, "This is not about crime. This is about values. Take your gang conflict away from a 7-year-old. Who raised you? You have a 7-year-old selling lemonade. You're a member of a gang coming to get lemonade and another gang member is driving by. Where were you raised and who raised you?" His voice rising and pointing his finger, he continued sternly, "Stay away from the kids!" 
 
 This emotional and personal approach is new for the mayor, who has focused on announcing various police and community tactics in previous comments on the spike in murders and shootings here. 
 
 Another different approach came earlier this week when police gave the details of a $1 million partnership with CeaseFire, an organization that relies on ex-gang members to mediate conflicts and prevent violence. The controversial deal will put 40 "interrupters", as the group calls them, on the streets in two of the city's most violent neighborhoods. 
 
 Ashake Banks welcomes any kind of help "to stop the shooting." 
 
 She and Heaven were planning a trip to Disney World next month, a reward for the girl's good grades this year. Instead, Ashake now plans a march with neighbors tonight to send a message and a challenge: "They cannot get away with just killing my baby. They shot her in the back and she was just seven years old."
– The latest victim of Chicago's surge in gang violence is just seven years old. Heaven Sutton died after being shot in the back at a candy stand her mom set up two weeks ago to help keep neighborhood kids close to home and away from gang crossfire, reports the Chicago Tribune. "She looked forward every day to opening up the candy store, and for somebody just to come take her life, it's not right," says her mother. Heaven, she says, had just had her hair done ahead of a family trip to Disney World to reward her for good grades. Heaven's mother believes the shooter was targeting somebody in the crowd near the stand. She had hoped gangs would stay away from a place meant for kids, but they "really didn’t even care," she says. "They killed my baby." Homicides in Chicago are up 38% this year and Heaven is the 253rd victim. Asked about the shooting, an angry Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, "This is not about crime. This is about values. Take your gang conflict away from a seven-year-old. Who raised you?" ABC reports. "Stay away from the kids!" he said.