PORTAGE PARK — A man who reportedly complained about neighborhood kids being too loud has been charged with fatally shooting a 9-year-old girl outside her Portage Park home over the weekend.
Michael Goodman, 43, of the 3500 block of North Long Avenue, was charged with one felony count of first-degree murder in the killing of Serabi Medina, police said Monday.
The shooting occurred on the same block where Goodman lives, police said.
Serabi was with a group around 9:40 p.m. Saturday when a man approached them from across the street, took out a gun and shot Serabi in her head, according to police, neighbors and family.
The young girl was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition and later pronounced dead, according to police. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Serabi died in a homicide.
Megan Kelley, a family friend and neighbor, told the Sun-Times the man accused of the shooting had complained about the girl being too loud before shooting her — and had done so in the past about other children.
“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 told the Sun-Times. “Everybody in the community would just tell him they are just kids having fun playing, just let them be.”
Kelley told the paper neighbors tried to avoid the man and stay away from him.
After the shooting Goodman, whom police described as a “known offender,” got into a struggle at the scene with Serabi’s father, who tried to disarm him, said Andrew Holmes, a community activist who is helping the Medina family.
Goodman was shot in his face during the struggle and was taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital in critical condition, police said. A weapon was recovered on the scene and the shooting is still under investigation, police said.
Goodman is scheduled to appear in Cook County bond court Tuesday, according to a spokesperson.
Holmes said Serabi’s mother previously was shot and killed, and the father was raising Serabi on his own after his wife died. Kelley told the Sun-Times that Serabi’s mother was fatally shot in Austin in 2018.
“The father is going through an emotional moment,” Holmes said.
A GoFundMe was launched to help Serabi’s family with funeral and other expenses. About $2,200 was raised as of Tuesday morning.
Serabi attended Reinberg Public School close by, Holmes said. He plans to work with the school to offer grief counseling to Serabi’s classmates.
“It’s a child and it hurts … [the father] is in pain. He needs a lot of healing,” Holmes said.
The father did not know the gunman and had never interacted with him before, Holmes said.
A memorial outside the family’s home has grown over the weekend, with friends and neighbors stopping to add candles, flowers and signs to remember Serabi and express their shock at the tragedy.
Dried blood could still be seen on the sidewalk and apartment stoop Monday.
Magdalena Pater, 7, walked to the memorial to drop off flowers with her grandma Monday. She knew Serabi from church and wanted to pay her respects, she said.
“My grandma told me about this so I wanted to bring flowers out today,” Pater told reporters. “I knew the girl so that’s why I came. … I remember going to church with her.”
A neighbor who lives in the same building as the Medinas heard the gunfire and called police, and another who witnessed the shooting said Serabi was riding her scooter moments before she was shot, according to NBC5.
Another neighbor who lives a block down was sitting near his front door Saturday when he heard sirens pass by the area, he told Block Club. He said the area is relatively quiet and the shooting was rare.
“I was sitting in the front room and I saw a light. I thought it was an ambulance because we have the hospital over here; I guess that was a police car,” the man said, who did not want to share his name. “It’s quiet over here.”
A Portage Park artist who goes by Flash ABC drove by Monday after hearing about the shooting on the news and added some flowers to the memorial.
He did not know the family but felt compelled to pay his respects.
“This has been eating at me,” said Flash ABC, who is also a father. “This is one of the most horrible things happening as a society and as a whole — a child was killed for playing.”
Ald. Ruth Cruz (30th) said the shooting was an isolated incident.
“I am shocked and saddened to hear that an 8-year-old girl was fatally shot in the Portage Park community last night. … My thoughts and prayers are with her family,” Cruz said in a statement. “Once I have more information about how to support her family during this devastating time I will keep you informed. In the meantime, hug your loved ones a little tighter today.”