(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The Obama Presidential Center will feature a public space named for Hadiya Pendleton, the South Side teenager who was shot and killed nine years ago just days after she performed for the president’s inauguration.
It will be called the “Hadiya Pendleton Winter Garden.” Michelle Obama, in announcing the memorial, said, “hopefully this garden can help share her light with even more people for generations to come.”
Nathaniel Pendleton, Hadiya’s father, said he and his family are thrilled.
“I hope the lesson is that we do have a problem with our young people in Chicago,” he said Friday. “And I hope through her life and her story, we can start putting different programs together to keep kids’ minds off using guns.”
Hadiya Pendleton was 15 when she was shot and killed January 29, 2013. An 18-year-old and a 20-year-old were arrested and later convicted of her murder.
The Obama Presidential Center is expected to open in 2025.
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