Teenager who performed at Barack Obama’s second inauguration is shot dead in Chicago

A Chicago teenager who performed at President Barack Obama’s inauguration was killed yesterday in a daylight shooting at a park on the city’s notorious South Side.

Fifteen-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was murdered a week after appearing in the King College Prep school drill team at the inauguration in Washington DC. Police said it was unlikely she was the gunman’s intended target. A 16-year-old boy was also shot in the attack, but survived.

Chicago’s homicide rate soared to 506 in 2012. Mr Obama’s home town had already seen 40 murders reported in January before Tuesday’s shooting.