A Chicago man is charged with murder after shooting a teen who threw water at a McDonald’s employee. The 17-year-old orphan was attacked because she was considered a nuisance by the workers.
On Friday, Anthony Heredia, 19, who was not an employee of the restaurant, shot and killed Tierra Franklin in South Lawndale.
In response to a confrontation that the fast-food chain employees had with Franklin the previous week, Heredia was asked to come up to the restaurant and confront the teen, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Employees told Heredia everything was fine when he arrived at the restaurant. He then decided to wait in the parking lot. The suspect reportedly saw Franklin throw a cup of water through a drive-through window and splash an employee.
As an act of retaliation, as the victim ran back to her car, the assailant pulled out his gun and fired twice at her, Cook County prosecutors claim. Shortly after 3:00 PM, the teen was struck in the back, taken to St. Anthony Hospital by her family, and pronounced dead.
When he killed Franklin, police said Heredia was on a bike. He has been charged with first-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon.
On Saturday, Franklin’s family gathered to remember the teen. ABC 7 Chicago reports that Franklin was an orphan after losing her mother to cancer in April. Her father died when she was just five years old.
“They tell you they’re going out to the store; you expect them to come back home,” Franklin’s aunt, Juanita Flowers, said. “So, it’s tragic.”
Flowers believed she was too late picking up the teen and regrets that she was killed.
“I feel like if I would’ve been here, maybe an hour, 45 minutes earlier, she would’ve been in the car with me. She wouldn’t have been at the location where it happened,” Flowers said.
Flower said her niece was a typical teen and was excited to start her senior year.
“Looking forward to graduating next year from Curie High School, looking forward to prom,” Flowers said.
