CHICAGO (WLS) — The emotional impact of a recent shooting in the community was evident, as none of the residents interviewed by ABC7 on Tuesday were willing to appear on camera, highlighting the incident’s unsettling effect.
Key details about the shooting remain unclear, including whether it was a deliberate attack. However, witnesses suggested that the teenage victim seemed to be heading to school at the time.
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The intersection of South Throop and West 50th streets in the Back of the Yards neighborhood became a grim scene, marked by over 80 evidence markers, where a 17-year-old tragically lost his life.
The violence didn’t end there, as two additional individuals were wounded when at least three assailants emerged from their black Jeep and opened fire shortly after 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
A witness named Vicky recounted the chaotic aftermath: “I saw them pick up the backpack. He was lying there, and the officers were performing CPR. Bystanders were trying to assist him before the police arrived. I don’t think that boy was doing anything wrong. I think he was on his way to school. He had a backpack. He was just a child.”
Police say the teenager was on foot at the time of the shooting. He was shot in the body multiple times and was pronounced dead at Comer Children’s Hospital.
The two men who were injured, 55 and 61 years old, were in a now-bullet-riddled red Dodge Caravan. CPD said the 61-year-old was shot in the back, and the 55-year-old was shot in the right arm.
The Dodge’s driver kept on going for a half mile before pulling into a nearby tire shop in the 5000-block of South Ashland Avenue for help.
“I saw a car at high speed, coming down the alley with a flat tire, so first thing I thought, it was a customer looking to get a tire repair,” said tire shop employee Leo. “The passenger got shot in the back, as he informed me. And the driver, I guess, bullet ricocheted, and it sliced his forearm by the elbow.”
While police initially reported the two injured men as being in critical condition, the tire shop employee said both appeared to be reasonably OK. One of them was potentially released from Stroger Hospital, where they were being treated, by Tuesday afternoon.
While the timeline is not clear, it was a short time later when police, who had apparently identified the vehicle carrying the gunmen, chased them down to West 44th Street and South Wolcott Avenue.
The masked men left behind the Jeep and an assault-style rifle, laying in the grass, but not before they hit one man’s grey Hyundai, sideswiping it on the passenger’s side.
“They were trying to get away from police,” the Hyundai’s owner, Anibal, told ABC7 in Spanish. “It was just one lane, and he hit me because he couldn’t get through.”
That witness also told ABC7 he saw police apprehend at least one suspect after giving them chase through the nearby gangways.
CPD confirmed on Tuesday night that a person of interest is in custody.
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