Honor Student who Marched in Inaugural Band Killed in Gun Cross-Fire after Hanging Out Near Gangsters

A 15-year-old Chicago honor student who participated in inaugural events celebrating President Obama's re-election was fatally shot Tuesday just blocks from her school.

Hadiya Pendleton was among approximately a dozen teens taking cover from the rain in a local park at 2:30 p.m. when a gunman jumped a fence and opened fire, according to reports. Pendleton and other King College Prep students had been dismissed from school early due to exams.The gunshots sent the entire group running out of the park in a panic, authorities say. Pendleton and a 16-year-old boy were both hit and collapsed about one block away.

Pendleton was shot once in the back and later died at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital. The wounded boy was in serious condition Tuesday night, according to the Chicago Tribune.

 Many of the teens with Pendleton at the time of the shooting were believed to be gang members and left the scene, according to reports.

Pendleton was an honor student, volleyball player, and majorette at King College Prep, according to CBS 2 in Chicago. She was a member of the school's marching band that traveled to Washington for the inauguration festivities last week."She was awesome," one friend told the Chicago Tribune at the hospital.

Thanks to David Boroff.