A Chicago man has been charged in the horrific fatal shooting of an 8-year-old girl after neighbors say he complained about her being “too loud.”
Police announced Monday that 43-year-old Michael Goodman of Portage Park is now charged with first-degree murder after he allegedly shot and killed Serabi Medina on Saturday night as she rode her scooter.
“Yesterday, when he came out, before he shot her, he had said something about them being too loud,” neighbor Megan Kelley told the Chicago Sun-Times, adding that Goodman frequently caused a scene when kids played on the block.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Just little kids playing, he would come out just yelling about the noise. It just didn’t make sense, none of it made sense,” Kelley said. “Everybody in the community would just tell him they are just kids having fun playing, just let them be.”
Medina’s father saw the shooting happen and sprinted towards the gun-wielding Goodman.
“He ran over there, football-tackled this guy,” community activist Andrew Holmes said.
Goodman was shot above his eye in the exchange and was taken to a nearby medical center—initially in critical condition. Meanwhile, Medina was pronounced dead at another hospital.
“She was just an absolutely amazing and beautiful little girl,” Kelley said. “She had her whole life ahead of her.”
Neighbors said Goodman isn’t popular.
“You kind of just stayed away from him,” Kelley said.
Tragically, the family is no stranger to gun violence. Medina lost her mother in a 2018 shooting on the city’s West Side, where she was shot in the head while sitting on a corner in the Austin neighborhood. She was just 29 years old.
