Aaren O’Connor grew up in southern California but it is in Chicago, where she was shot to death while on the phone with her family, that her father hopes her legacy lives on.
“People need to know what’s going on and what kind of loss is taking place here,” said David O’Connor, who is helping to raise money in his daughter’s name for at-risk children in Chicago. “I want her name and her voice to be the impetus for bringing all this violence to an end. I know that’s asking a lot.”
His 25-year-old daughter was found struck in the head by a stray bullet around 7:30 p.m. Friday, sitting in her car near her home in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood, talking on the phone with her family back in San Diego, according to police and the family.
“She was having trouble speaking," David O’Connor said. "She didn’t know where she was. She kept saying her head hurts, her head hurts. I thought maybe she was having a stroke or something.”
The family got hold of O’Connor’s boyfriend, who called her roommate who went outside and found O’Connor in the car in the 2000 block of 21st Street, a few doors down from where she lived. "She’s calling me saying, ‘I’ve been shot,’ " David O’Connor said.
O’Connor’s father said he has been told by police that someone was being chased down the street, turned around and fired shots at people pursuing him around 7:30 p.m. One of the bullets hit his daughter, David O’Connor said.
His daughter was taken to Stroger Hospital, where her family says she was declared brain dead on Sunday evening. She was kept on life support so her organs could be donated, David O’Connor said. "Now there’s nothing but the pain and the hurt," he said by phone. "Tempered by a lot of very nice, very kind words."
Reward offered in chicago woman’s killing
Aaren O’Connor was shot in the head while sitting outside her Pilsen apartment last week. Feb. 12, 2016. (CBS Chicago)
Aaren O’Connor was shot in the head while sitting outside her Pilsen apartment last week. Feb. 12, 2016. (CBS Chicago)
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Chicago police reported no one in custody as of Wednesday afternoon. They have sent out an alert asking for any information that might help in the case, including video.
The area around O’Connor’s home is relatively quiet, but a homeowner across the street shot and killed a burglar almost two years ago to the day. That was months before she moved to the neighborhood.
As arrangements were being made to donate her organs, co-workers set up a GoFundMe site with an initial goal of raising $50,000 to help needy students in Chicago travel abroad, as O’Connor did. She met her boyfriend in Japan and studied in Mexico.
Eventually, supporters hope to set up an after-school program at a community center in O’Connor’s name that helps students "choose a non-violent path and open their hearts to others," according to the website. The site was set up Monday and had raised nearly $30,000 by Wednesday afternoon.
Father of woman, 25, killed by stray bullet recounts final conversation with her
David O’Connor says he didn’t realize he was speaking to his 25-year-old daughter, Aaren, for the last time when he spoke to her on the phone just after she was shot in the head by a stray bullet in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood. Feb. 8, 2016. (CBS Chicago)
David O’Connor says he didn’t realize he was speaking to his 25-year-old daughter, Aaren, for the last time when he spoke to her on the phone just after she was shot in the head by a stray bullet in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood. Feb. 8, 2016. (CBS Chicago)
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"Our main idea was not allowing her to be forgotten,” said Willie Wilkov, one of the organizers. "We can’t allow her death to be in vain.
"It’s a shame this happened to her," Wilkov said. "She was a go-getter and a very positive person who was wise way beyond her years."
David O’Connor said his daughter was exceptionally smart: The only one in her preschool class who could read, a straight-A high school student, a magna cum laude college graduate. “She really just outdid everybody,” he said.
She moved to Chicago a year and a half ago to be with her boyfriend and work at Tomy, a toy company in Oak Brook. She recently was promoted to brand manager for their Pokemon line, David O’Connor said.
“[She was] outgoing, intelligent, happy, always driven,” he said. “I think the whole world lost something precious here.”
Aaren O’Connor had grown attached to Chicago in the year and a half she lived here, her father said. “She loved it. Loved the history, loved everything about Chicago,” he said.
O’Connor’s younger sister has been accepted to Loyola University in Chicago, and the family had been considering sending her there.
But not now, David O’Connor said. “We’re not going to let her go there. She really doesn’t want to live in the city where her sister died.”
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