“My head hurts.” Those are among the last words a San Diego father will ever hear from the daughter he only wishes he could have told “I love you” one last time.
Young Aaren O’Connor had just returned home from work on Friday and was sitting in her car on the phone with her sister when the line was cut off. O’Connor’s father then called her, but all he heard was incoherent words, and then the repeated phrase, “My head hurts,” according to WLS-7 Chicago, the local ABC News affiliate.
Unbeknownst to David O’Connor, his 25-year-old daughter had been struck by a bullet in the head when a nearby fight broke out. According to the report, the fight had not involved the young woman.
Mr. O’Connor told the local news outlet that he had pleaded with his daughter not to move to Chicago. He warned her of the crime there, but she went anyway to take a job with a toy company and be with her boyfriend.
The young woman died in the hospital two days after the shooting occurred, according to Fox 5. The grieving father lamented to the local outlet that he just wished he knew what was happening when his daughter was saying her head hurt. He should have said a final “I love you,” he said.
Her death is number 17 in just the first eight days of February, ABC 7 reported. That’s triple the number from all of February 2015. As of Monday night, no suspects were in custody, according to police.
Miss O’Connor attended the University of San Diego. She left San Diego to join the boyfriend she met studying abroad in Japan and work for toy company TOMY International.
ABC 7 reported that her coworkers set up a page to raise funds for funeral expenses, with additional funds earmarked to set up a study abroad scholarship program for at-risk youth, and a Chicago community center after school program.
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana
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