Killing of Hadiya Pendleton

On January 29, 2013, Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old girl from Chicago, Illinois, was shot in the back and killed while standing with friends in Harsh Park in the Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago, shortly after finishing her final exams. Pendleton was a student at King College Prep High School and had performed at events for President Barack Obama's second inauguration just one week before her death. The shooting occurred approximately one mile from President Obama's Chicago home. First Lady Michelle Obama attended Pendleton's funeral, and President Obama referenced her death in his 2013 State of the Union Address, where her parents, Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton and Nathaniel A. Pendleton Sr., were guests. Cowley-Pendleton later appeared onstage, without speaking, at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

Two suspects, Micheail Ward, 18, and Kenneth Williams, 20, were arrested and indicted on multiple counts including first-degree murder, attempted murder, and aggravated discharge of a weapon. According to police, the suspects said Pendleton was not their intended target; the group she was standing with had been mistaken for members of a rival gang. A judge denied bail to both men. At the time of the shooting, Ward, identified as the gunman, was on probation following a January 2012 guilty plea for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He had subsequently been arrested multiple times in 2012 for offenses including breaking into vehicles and misdemeanor trespassing, and had a prior juvenile record involving charges ranging from robbery to battery to marijuana possession.

Both Ward and Williams were charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, and aggravated battery with a firearm. Their trial began on August 14, 2018. On August 22, 2018, a jury found Williams guilty of first-degree murder of Pendleton, as well as aggravated battery against her friends Sebastian Moore and Lawrence Sellers. The following day, August 23, 2018, a jury found Ward guilty of first-degree murder in Pendleton's death. Ward was sentenced to 84 years in prison on January 14, 2019. Williams was sentenced on July 20, 2021, to 42 years in prison — 35 years for the murder and seven for aggravated battery.

On March 31, 2023, it was reported that an Illinois Appellate Court had overturned Ward's conviction, ruling that his videotaped confession was inadmissible and should not have been entered into evidence at trial. On January 2, 2025, it was reported that Ward had been granted the right to a new trial. As of a January 29, 2026 CBS News report, Ward was still awaiting that new trial.

Pendleton's death has been referenced in the arts and in public commemoration, including in rapper Lupe Fiasco's song "Jonylah Forever," and in June 2026 an atrium at the Barack Obama Presidential Center was opened in her honor.