Kanari Gentry-Bowers' family was determined not to let her go.
As the 12-year-old lay unconscious for days in a hospital bed, a bullet wound to her spine, they read to her: notes from friends, a homemade Valentine's Day card from a boy Kanari liked, a school banner her principal brought over that was dotted with the names of her sixth-grade classmates.
Their resolve only grew stronger after another young girl shot over the weekend, 11-year-old Takiya Holmes, died on Tuesday.
But in the end, all the notes and tears and prayers weren't enough. Kanari succumbed to her injuries on Wednesday afternoon -- the third child to die from a shooting in Chicago in just two days.
Kanari was surrounded by her mother, her father and her uncle, according to Dawn Valenti, a family friend and crisis counselor who was just outside the door.
“Her brain function was gone; there was nothing else they could do for her, nothing at all,” Valenti said. “It was out of their hands. She was gone."
Her family released a statement through the hospital, saying, "We are appreciative of all of the thoughts and prayers we have received in the past several days.
"Please keep your children close and do whatever it takes to protect them from the senseless gun violence in our city.”
The family of Kanari Gentry Bowers asks for justice and an end to gun violence after announcing the death of the 12-year-old at Stroger Hospital on Feb. 15, 2017.
The family of Kanari Gentry Bowers asks for justice and an end to gun violence after announcing the death of the 12-year-old at Stroger Hospital on Feb. 15, 2017.
See more videosKanari was the first of three children fatally shot in Chicago over the past week. Her death came as charges were filed in Takiya's death and as police stepped up their investigation into the slaying of 2-year-old Lavontay White Jr. earlier this week.
Kanari had been on life support since a bullet tore into her body on the South Side on Saturday night, striking her uppermost vertebrae, close to the base of her head, and causing brain damage, according to Valenti.
Thirty minutes later, and 4 miles away, Takiya was also struck by a stray bullet in the head. She also remained on life support for days until doctors determined there was no brain activity. She died early Valentine’s Day.
When Valenti heard the news, she knew she had to be the one to break it to Kanari’s legal guardian, her paternal grandmother, Patricia Donald-Bowers.
“The shock value of it, I didn’t want her to see it on TV, I wanted to tell her personally so she could kind of absorb it,” Valenti said.
She said the two families have reached out to one another, with some of Kanari’s relatives attending a vigil for Takiya on Tuesday and offering condolences to Takiya’s mother, Valenti said.
“It’s amazing how two families can be bonded by an act of violence … coming together because their children suffered,” Valenti said.
Learning of Takiya’s fate had only steeled the family's resolve not to take Kanari off life support.
The family is extremely close, she said, and Kanari’s cousins were a strong support system. Kanari’s uncle Djuan Donald and her cousins Rochetta Tyler and Patricia Donald, 20, were at the hospital trying to keep spirits light by sharing stories.
Third child dies from a shooting in Chicago in just two days Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas, Jason Meisner and Gregory PrattKanari Gentry-Bowers' family was determined not to let her go.
As the 12-year-old lay unconscious for days in a hospital bed, a bullet wound to her spine, they read to her: notes from friends, a homemade Valentine's Day card from a boy Kanari liked, a school banner her principal brought over that...
Kanari Gentry-Bowers' family was determined not to let her go.
As the 12-year-old lay unconscious for days in a hospital bed, a bullet wound to her spine, they read to her: notes from friends, a homemade Valentine's Day card from a boy Kanari liked, a school banner her principal brought over that...
(Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas, Jason Meisner and Gregory Pratt)After a Tuesday visit from Henderson Elementary School Principal Marvis Jackson-Ivy, Patricia Donald took a pile of letters and cards Jackson-Ivy dropped off and read them during a stream on Facebook Live.
“Y’all done put so much thought and love into the cards, when Kanari see it she gonna love it,” Donald said into the camera.
She got in some good teasing, too. She complimented one student’s handwriting, seemed impressed one student wrote to Kanari in Spanish, and saved her best taunts for a student who had a bit of trouble with spelling (It’s “choir,” not “quire.”)
The family has been torn before by gun violence. Rochetta Tyler lost a daughter, Michelle Pearson, after she was shot in the summer of 2014 at the age of 20. Like Kanari, Pearson was wounded in the head and was on placed of life support.
‘“My baby’s fighting for her life,’’ Rochetta Tyler said at the time. “They say she’s not going to get any better. The doctors told me that she’s a fighter … that she’s really fighting.’’
Family videos of Kanari Gentry Bowers, 12Kanari Gentry Bowers, 12, was shot in the head on Chicago's South Side over the weekend. Kanari's family shared videos with the Chicago Tribune. Feb. 15, 2017.
Kanari Gentry Bowers, 12, was shot in the head on Chicago's South Side over the weekend. Kanari's family shared videos with the Chicago Tribune. Feb. 15, 2017.
See more videosTyler also made a plea that day in June nearly three years ago.
“It’ll be a miracle and a blessing if they turned themselves in,’’ Tyler said. “If the streets don’t turn them in, then they’re just as guilty as them.’’
Pearson died seven months later. She was the mother of a 4-year-old son.
On Sunday, Tyler stood in front of a different hospital and made the same plea: "I don’t know what’s going to stop this, what we can do to stop this. I don’t know. It’s just, we steadily losing our kids. Eleven and 12? Whoever did this, they should turn themselves in.”
Tyler’s crisis counselor back in 2014 was Dawn Valenti. It was the beginning of a lasting relationship. Tyler called Valenti again Saturday night to tell her, this time, her 12-year-old cousin had been shot.
“This city right now is in such crisis," Valenti said. "We’ve got too much happening and too many innocent children and these feral children out on the streets with too many guns. For me they’re basically wild, there’s no other way to say it. They’re feral.
"Because if they do understand what’s behind pulling that trigger, then they have to be soulless,” she said.
This week, Valenti sat with Rochetta Tyler’s mother, Carol Tyler, and talked about how Kanari’s shooting brought back memories of Michelle.
“She said, yes it does, the sitting, the waiting, the hoping, the praying,” Valenti relayed. “You’ve got to trust in God, so that’s what they’re doing, God got the last word.”
Aunt of 12-year-old shot in the head speaksAn emotional Rochetta Tyler, aunt of Kanari Gentry Bowers, speaks to the media outside of Stroger Hospital on Feb. 12, 2017, where her 12-year-old niece is fighting for her life after being shot in the head the day before.
An emotional Rochetta Tyler, aunt of Kanari Gentry Bowers, speaks to the media outside of Stroger Hospital on Feb. 12, 2017, where her 12-year-old niece is fighting for her life after being shot in the head the day before.
See more videosOur editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
