FILE - This undated file family photo provided by Damon Stewart shows 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton of Chicago who was was shot Jan. 29, 2013 while she talked with friends in a park about a mile from President... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - This undated file family photo provided by Damon Stewart shows 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton of Chicago who was was shot Jan. 29, 2013 while she talked with friends in a park about a mile from President... (Associated Press) 
 
 Two men were charged with murder Monday in the death of a 15-year-old Chicago honor student who was shot just days after returning from Washington, where she performed during President Barack Obama's inauguration festivities. 
 
 The two young men, ages 18 and 20, were described by police as "persons of interest" when they were taken into custody early Sunday, a day after first lady Michelle Obama and other dignitaries attended the funeral of Hadiya Pendleton. 
 
 Chicago police spokeswoman Melissa Stratton said late Monday that both young men are now charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm. Their names haven't been released. 
 
 Pendleton, a popular high school majorette, was with a group of friends who took cover during a rainstorm under a canopy in a park about a mile from the Obama home on the city's South Side. Police said a man hopped a fence, ran toward them and opened fire with a handgun. 
 
 Pendleton was struck in the back and died later that day. Two others were injured. 
 
 Police have said none of the people in Pendleton's group were affiliated with gangs but that the gunman apparently mistook one for a member of a rival gang that had encroached on his gang's turf. 
 
 Pendleton's death was one of more than 40 homicides in Chicago in January, a total that made it the deadliest January in the city in more than a decade. 
 
 But it was her background, her ties to the president's inauguration and the location of the park that thrust her death into the national headlines and put Chicago at the center of a national debate over gun control. 
 
 Not only did the first lady attend the teen's funeral, but the girl's parents were set to sit with Michelle Obama during the president's State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Obama is scheduled to return to Chicago three days later to discuss gun violence. ||||| ‘Heartbroken’ Michelle Obama to attend Saturday funeral of Hadiya Pendleton BY MICHAEL SNEED Chicago Sun-Times Columnist 
 
 Updated: 
 
 A “heartbroken” first lady Michelle Obama is planning on attending the Saturday funeral services for slain teenager Hadiya Pendleton, who has become a national symbol for the growing problem of gun and gang violence in the city of Chicago. 
 
 Obama will be accompanied to the funeral by Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to the president, and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. 
 
 “As a mother and Chicagoan, the first lady was heartbroken to learn of the tragic loss of Hadiya Pendleton due to senseless gun violence,” said Kristina Schake, the first lady’s communications director. “Too many times, we’ve seen young people struck down with so much of their lives ahead of them. The first lady is traveling to her funeral on Saturday to offer her condolences and support to Hadiya’s family and loved ones.” 
 
 Hadiya was gunned down last month at a North Kenwood neighborhood park. 
 
 Hadiya attended President Barack Obama’s inauguration last month, performing as a baton-twirling majorette with her King College Prep school band at a party sponsored by U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis. The teen had condemned gun violence in a 2008 public service announcement. 
 
 The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Thursday: “She went to the White House to see the president, and now the people in the White House are coming to see her. But they’ll not see her, they’ll view her, and that is so painful.” 
 
 Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said she’s “grateful” the first lady is returning to Chicago to pay her respects to the family of a child who died in a community both women call home. 
 
 “It’s less than a mile from where I live. This impacts the community in which we both live and the ward in which we both live,” Preckwinkle, who lives in the Hyde Park-Kenwood area of Chicago, told the Chicago Sun-Times on Thursday. 
 
 The park where Hadiya was killed is also less the a mile from the Obama family’s Kenwood home. 
 
 “I am grateful that the first lady will be coming to the city. It will increase attention to this issue — the disturbing level of gun violence in our city. I know it will be of great consolation to the Pendleton family,” Preckwinkle said, adding that, she, too will be at the Saturday service. 
 
 During an unrelated news conference this week, Preckwinkle reflected on Hadiya’s death and the loss of a “promising” young woman. 
 
 She said again Thursday: “Frankly the deaths of any of our young people is a tragedy. Sometimes we make distinctions between those who are young and promising and those who are gang-involved,” but she said that “redemption” is always possible, and those youths with problems shouldn’t be forgotten. 
 
 “A lot of troubled teenagers turn out to be responsible adults,” she said. 
 
 Hadiya’s wake and funeral will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Greater Harvest Baptist Church, 5141 S. State. The family chose the church because it can accommodate between 800 and 1,000 people. 
 
 Shatira Wilks, Hadiya’s cousin, said Thursday that the family was now immersed in the logistics accompanying the first lady’s presence at the funeral. 
 
 “Our whole dynamics have changed,” Wilks said. 
 
 Contributing: Lisa Donovan
– Michelle Obama will attend Saturday's funeral for Hadiya Pendleton, the Chicago teen killed not long after performing at President Obama's inauguration, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Alongside Obama will be adviser Valerie Jarrett and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, also Chicagoans, reports the Tribune. No arrests have been made in the shooting, but a $40,000 reward remains. Police think the 15-year-old got shot accidentally amid a turf war between gangs.