By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News
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Four years before she became the innocent victim of what may have been a gang turf war, Hadiya Pendleton starred in an anti-gang public-service video.
She was a sixth grader at Carter G. Woodson Elementary School and delivered a message that would remain relevant until the moment she was cut down by a bullet in a Chicago park.
Courtesy the Pendleton family
Hadiya Pendleton and friends on her visit to Washington for President Obama's inauguration. She was shot in Chicago a week later.
"Hi, my name is Hadiya....this commercial is informational for you and your future children," she says in the video, which was first reported by DNAinfo.com.
"So many children out there are in gangs, and it's your your job to say no to gangs and yes to your future."
The other girl in the video pointed out that too many kids are killed by gang violence, by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Police say that appears to be exactly what happened to Pendleton, who was hanging out with volleyball teammates after school when a gunman opened fire on a group of teens. Only a week before, she had been part of a performance at President Obama's inauguration festivities.
Investigators believe the park Hadiya and her pals were in may have been at the center of a turf war, even though the kids were not affiliated with any gangs.
Pendleton's cousin, Shatira Wilks, said most of the family had never seen the video before it surfaced after her death.
"But it shows you about Hadiya's personality. She has always been a part of anything that represented good. She never liked being part of anything negative and that is why so many people loved her," Wilks said.
"This video is an affirmation, an acknowledgement of where she stood -- and the tragedy behind it is this is exactly how she died."
At a press conference on Thursday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the city saw "both and increase in gun violence and gang-related activities" in the past year.
?Before a flame becomes a fire.. put it out," he said in announcing new anti-crime measures.
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