Jaslyn Adams was rushed to hospital by police but she could not be saved following the shooting in Chicago suburb of Homan Square at about 4.15pm on Sunday, US news channel ABC 7 reported.
Her 29-year-old father remains in hospital with serious injuries after he was shot in the torso.A McDonald's employee said their vehicle was ambushed by two armed men from another car, who opened fire on the father and daughter.Police say Jaslyn's body was hit multiple times. More than 30 shell casings surrounded their vehicle after the shooting, CBS Chicago reported.
Police are yet to make any arrests in relation to their investigations into the incident. Authorities believe the shooting to be gang-related.
Jaslyn's aunt Tawny McMullen pleaded for an end to gun crime while community activist Andrew Holmes said fatally shooting a child was "senseless", according to the Chicago Sun Times.
“She was just the sweet and outgoing; really talkative; really loveable,” McMullen said in tribute to her niece.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot took to Twitter late on Sunday to condemn the shooting.
"I am heartbroken and angered that a 7-year-old child was killed this afternoon on Chicago's West Side," she said.
"This unthinkable act of violence has no place here. The epidemic of gun violence cutting our children's lives short cannot go on."
Chicago sees surge in gun crime
Chicago was one of many US cities to see a rise in gun violence during 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic fuelled social and economic issues across the nation.
“There’s always been an urgent need to address root causes but when you have a once-in-a-hundred-year public health and economic crisis, it highlights the need for a root cause push of a sort that nobody has seen before," Jens Ludwig from the University of Chicago's Crime Lab told the Chicago Sun Times in December.
The shooting comes just days after Chicago authorities released bodycam footage of a police officer fatally shooting Latino teenager Adam Toledo as he raised his hands following a police pursuit where it was believed the 13-year-old was carrying a firearm.
On its release Ms Lightfoot decried the city’s long history of police violence and misconduct, especially in Black and brown communities, and said too many young people were left vulnerable to “systemic failures that we simply must fix”.
