AUSTIN — Students leaving McNair Elementary School in Austin on Thursday walked by a memorial made of candles and balloons, marking the site where a driver hit and killed one of their classmates, 9-year-old Anakin Perez, that morning.

Perez’s family and fellow McNair families are calling on Chicago Public Schools to add more crossing guards and staff outside the school — which has just one crossing guard — to prevent further tragedies.

About 7:40 a.m. Thursday, Anakin was crossing the street in front of McNair Elementary, 4820 W. Walton St., when a woman driving westbound hit him, police and family said. Anakin was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The female driver was taken into custody and issued a citation for failure to exercise due care to a pedestrian in th

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