Teen who wrote award-winning essay on gun violence shot and killed by stray bullet

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- A teenager in Milwaukee, who wrote an award-winning essay about gun violence, died after being struck by a stray bullet when shots were fired outside her home.

Sandra Parks died Monday night. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Sandra was a sixth-grader when she took third place in a city competition with her essay commemorating the life of Martin Luther King.

She wrote of seeing "examples of chaos almost every day" and lamented "little children" who were victims of "senseless gun violence."

Isaac Barnes, 26, and Untrell Oden, 27, were arrested in connection with Parks' death. Barnes was charged with first-degree reckless homicide and related offenses, The Washington Post reported. Oden was charged with two counts of a possession of a firearm by a felon, FOX 6 Now reported.

Mayor Tom Barrett said Sandra's death was due to lack of national and state leadership on the problem of gun violence.

Sandra's mother says her daughter "was everything this world is not."

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that at least three children have been fatally shot in the city in recent years by bullets fired from outside their homes, including a 5-year-old girl who was sitting on her grandfather's lap at the time.

A GoFundMe account has been set up for the teen's funeral costs.