Young victims of Fairhill shooting speak out

FAIRHILL (WTXF) - The city street sweeper roared down the 3100 block of Sheridan on this "day after," but it could not wipe away the stain of violence that nearly claimed two more young lives.

"I was crying. She was crying," Samyrah Lindsay said.

It was around 6:30 Monday night when 12-year-old you Judelly Sanchez -- they call her Ju Ju -- and her best friend, nine-year-old Samyrah Lindsay were leaving La Dominiscans grocery at Clearfield and Marshall when a nearby argument turned violent.

19 shots were fired from an assault rifle and semi-automatic handgun with the girls caught in the middle. Ju Ju took two shots to the thigh. Samyrah got a face full of glass from the shattered door.

"It was like painful, like a big, giant dot, like someone poked you really hard," Judelly said.

"Silly question, but how much did it hurt?" FOX 29's Bruce Gordon asked.

"On a scale of one to ten it was a ten. Now it's an 8."

Samyrah said, "There was glass all over my face. Blood all over the floor. The soda spilled. I slipped. Ju Ju slipped."

Violence is all too common on this block. Just a few feet away from Monday's shooting scene sits a memorial to a 24-year-old murdered here at the end of July.

"Do you feel like you can go out and play if you want?"

"Yes, when no one's shooting."

As for Ju Ju's parents, they've had enough of the violence in this block -- violence that does not differentiate between innocent and guilty and between bystander and gun toting aggressor.

"How do you feel as a parent? You'd like to let your kids play outside."

Elizabeth Santiago, Judelly's mother, said, "You can't do that around here. At times we could, but not no more."

"Too dangerous?"

"Too, too dangerous."

John Santiago, Judelly's father, said, "Time to move. When the neighborhood is like this it's time to move."

"You've had enough?"

"Yeah."