CARACAS. Pedro Carreño, father of the girl stabbed to death in Chicago, asked the governments of Venezuela and the United States to do justice in this case of infanticide and, at the same time, requested their help to repatriate the body of the infant to the state of Nueva Esparta (Margarita Island), in the east of the South American country.
The statements were given to the regional news outlet, Línea Informativa.
His father asks that he not become another statistic of violence.
Little Edimari Hernández, 7 years old, was born in Caracas, but was taken to the island of Margarita where she spent two years of her childhood.
Last Saturday, when she was walking hand in hand with her mother through the Chatham neighborhood, on the south side of Chicago, she was attacked by a woman who stabbed her several times.
The official report indicates that the aggressor approached them from behind and attacked her with a sharp object and caused multiple wounds on her back.
A surveillance camera captured the moment of the attack on the minor and thanks to the intervention of several passersby, the aggressor was arrested immediately after the attack. They held her until police officers arrived.
The crime shocked the Chicago community.
the american dream
Carreño recalled that her daughter was an excellent daughter and student and added: “Edimar did not deserve to die that way.”
He criticized the violence that is experienced in the streets of Chicago and the situation that many Venezuelans are going through in the United States.
“I think what happened to my daughter should not happen. Tomorrow it could happen to another Venezuelan. Edimar left the country with her mother due to her country’s situation. Her grandparents and aunts had already traveled first and they asked her mother to go to the United States,” she told Línea Informativa.
The girl along with her mother crossed the dangerous Darién jungle, in Panama, to later arrive in the United States.
Carreño continued with her memories: “Edimar had communication with me until recently. She was queen of the 2020 Carnival here in the municipality. She had a float made by me for her. Edimar had a dream of returning to Venezuela and continuing to make that American dream. She dreamed of being a professional.”
Aggressor was charged
The attacker of the minor Edimar, 28 years old, was identified as Shavon Gayden and was accused of stabbing the minor to death.
Gayden is a stranger to the 7-year-old victim’s family, but not to police since she had previously been arrested for attacking the operator of a Chicago Transit Authority bus. For that attack she was sentenced to two years of probation.
