Play

The irony of a teenager being shot in the crossfire between two rival gangs is that he was part of a campaign to highlight the effect of gun violence on Chicago’s black youth.

Thirteen-year-old Zarriel Trotter, who starred in this award winning Public Service Advertisement (video above) was shot on Friday in the back by a stray bullet. The video, part of a YouTube and Facebook campaign named "Black is Human" has children speaking out their fears of becoming victims to gun violence in their neighbourhoods.

Trotter, appearing halfway into the video, says, “I don’t want to live around my community where I got to keep on hearing and hearing people keep on getting shot, people keep on getting killed.”

Trotter was struck by a stray bullet on Friday night after two groups of youths began a “heated argument”, and one person pulled out a handgun and started firing.

Officer Jose Estrada told the New York Times, “He was not the intended target. He was standing on the sidewalk.” He added that no one else was injured, and that there have been no arrests so far.

The public service ad starts with this message: “The leading cause of death for black boys and teens: homicide.”