That's a tortured formulation.
"gunfire"
"often connected to"
"gangs hitting Chicago children"
How about not emphasizing the gunfire? Howabout "Chicago children often victims of gang violence"?
Because the gangs seem to be the problem, the gunfire is somewhat incidental.
This author just writes in a very convoluted manner.
I had to read this 3 times to figure it out “..her ability to size up and avoid people trouble seemed to follow...”
You’re ClearCase_guy, Don Babwin is TorturedGrammer_guy.