Thirteen people, including a 3-year-old boy, were shot on Thursday night in a park on Chicago's South Side, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The shootings reportedly occurred at a basketball court in Cornell Square Park in the city's Back of the Yards neighborhood.
Francis John, 70, was upstairs in her three-flat home near the park when she heard gunfire.
"It was a lot of boom, boom, boom,” John
told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Ten adults and the 3-year-old were transported by Fire Department
ambulances to area hospitals after the attack. A 12th victim was
believed to have driven himself to the hospital, The Tribune reported.
Several hours after the shooting, police said a total of 13 people
were shot: the boy, two teens and 10 adults. The boy, Deonta' Howard
(pronounced Deontay), was most seriously wounded. He suffered a gunshot
wound to the head, and was listed in critical condition.
Chicago police are releasing very little information about the
attack, except to say that it appeared to be gang-related. No details
have been released about a suspect.
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CHICAGO — A 3-year-old boy who was among 13 people wounded
in a late-night attack on a southwest Chicago park was alert when he
arrived at the hospital and was apparently doing well, his family and
friends said early Friday.
The attack late Thursday in the city's Back of the Yard neighborhood
left three victims, including the boy, in critical condition. The others
were reportedly in serious or fair condition.
The child's uncle, Julian Harris, told the Chicago Sun-Times that
dreadlocked men in a gray sedan shot at him Thursday night before
turning toward nearby Cornell Square Park and opening fire. He said his
nephew was shot in the cheek.
"They hit the light pole next to me, but I ducked down and ran into
the house," Harris said. "They've been coming round here looking for
people to shoot every night, just gang-banging stuff. It's what they
do."
Police officials declined to discuss details of the investigation.
Ron Gaines, a department spokesman, said no arrests had been made and
that victims were being interviewed to try to determine the
circumstances surrounding the attack, which happened shortly after 10
p.m.
Officer Amina Greer said at least 10 ambulances responded to the
scene and took victims to several area hospitals. One victim transported
himself to a hospital, police said.
Among the 13 victims were at least two other minors, ages 15 and 17.
The 3-year-old boy was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. Hospital
officials declined to disclose his condition, but fire officials said
the boy's condition was critical.
The Rev. Corey Brooks, a pastor at New Beginnings Church, spoke with
family members outside the hospital and said the boy was resting with
his mother.
"He was talking when they first brought him in, but he's heavily sedated now," he said.
"They say he's good," said Semecha Nunn, the boy's grandmother. "They
going to have to do a little plastic surgery on him, but he's OK."
Francis John, 70, said she was in her apartment when the shooting
occurred. She said she went down to see what was going on and "a lot of
youngsters were running scared." A 30-year resident, she said she was
surprised by what had happened.
She told the Sun-Times there hasn't been much gun violence in the
neighborhood in recent years, adding the neighborhood went from good to
bad 10 years ago, to better recently.
The shooting comes nearly three weeks after Chicago saw an outburst
of violence over the Labor Day weekend that ended with eight dead and 20
others injured.
Following a surge in homicides and shootings last year, the police
department stepped up its crime-fighting efforts by, among other things,
paying overtime to add patrols to some neighborhoods, including the
Back of the Yards.
