Killing of Dwyane Wade's Cousin Yet Another Reason to 'VOTE TRUMP,' Tweets Trump

CHICAGO, IL — Ever the opportunist, Donald Trump seized on the shooting death of basketball star Dwyane Wade's cousin in an attempt to score political points.

Shot in the head while pushing her newborn in a stroller, Nykea Aldridge's body was still in the county morgue when Trump took to Twitter Saturday morning to declare that African-Americans, beset by urban violence, will flock to his candidacy for president.

The mother of four children hadn't even been dead 24 hours.

Aldridge, 32, was shot Friday at 3:30 p.m. as she walked in front of Dulles School for Excellence on Chicago's South Side. Aldridge was rushed to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 4:15 p.m. Police were questioning two men on Saturday in connection with her death. The baby, just a few weeks old, was not harmed.

Initial reports suggested she was walking with a man who may have been the target of two shooters. On Saturday, police were investigating the possibility she was struck by stray bullets fired during a robbery, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Aldridge is Chicago Bulls star Dwyane Wade's first cousin. Their mothers are sisters. Wade's mom, Pastor Jolinda Wade, held Aldridge's mother in her arms outside the hospital on Friday as she spoke to reporters about how the violence she's decried as a pastor has touched her family.

Trump in recent weeks has been talking about police and urban violence in front of mostly white audiences, saying police aren't allowed to be tough on crime, police deserve more respect, and African-Americans should support him for president because he'll put an end to the shootings and killings plaguing their neighborhoods.

Trump's support among African-American voters is polling in the single digits.

Trump has focused particular attention on Chicago, the hometown of President Barack Obama, which is experiencing a record-shattering murder rate this year. Trump mentioned this in his acceptance speech at the GOP convention.

"In the president's hometown of Chicago, more than 2,000 people have been the victims of shootings this year alone. And almost 4,000 have been killed in the Chicago area since he took office," Trump said.

This has been a particularly deadly summer for Chicago, and the loss of innocents is both stark and ironic.

In recent weeks, an Army veteran was shot dead in the street. Abner Garcia, 23, worked with at-risk youth at the YMCA. The son of a Chicago police officer was also shot dead. Arshell Dennis, 20, was a college student who came home to visit his sick mother. Police believe he may have been shot in a case of mistaken identity. Almost two dozen children have been shot, too.

On average, 10 people are shot in Chicago every day — more than in New York and Los Angeles combined.

Earlier this week, Trump took aim at Chicago's violence again in an appearance on "The O'Reilly Factor" on Fox News.

"I went to a top police officer in Chicago, who is not the police chief, I could see by the way he was dealing with his people he was a rough, tough guy, they respected him greatly,” Trump said Monday night in an interview with host Bill O'Reilly. “I said, ‘How do you think you do it?’ He said, ‘Mr. Trump within one week we could stop much of this horror show that’s going on.’ ”

Chicago Police are adamant this conversation never happened.

The Republican candidate's Saturday morning tweet about Wade's cousin elicited an immediate backlash.

Among those calling out Trump was actor, director and producer Don Cheadle, 51, who called Trump a "POS."

In the hours thereafter, Cheadle has been trading comments with Tump supporters. (Cheadle's work includes "Ocean's Eleven," "Iron Man," "Traffic," "Crash" and many other feature films.)

Here is a sample of other tweets in reaction to Trump's:

Wade, who plans to open a community center in Chicago with his mother, also took to Twitter on Saturday to comment on Chicago's violence.