CHICAGO _ The last time Patricia McBride saw her 16-year-old nephew, he was smiling and watching basketball on Easter, one of the many times her large family comes together to celebrate each other's company.
But her family was together for a more solemn occasion Thursday night as McBride stood in front of a South Side homicide scene at a Chicago Housing Authority complex in the 2700 block of South State Street.
She believed the boy shot in the head inside a vestibule of Dearborn Homes was her nephew. He was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting about 8:30 p.m. after a car pulled up in front of a group of men standing outside, who then appeared to run into the building seeking shelter.
"He was a sweet young man," said McBride, 49, who lives in Justice, just outside the city. "He was a good guy. He was a regular teenager ... liked sports. He was just trying to live his life."
As the distraught family inched as close as they could to the yellow crime scene tape, Chicago police officers intentionally blocked their view of the body, covered in a white sheet and being loaded into a white van.
"Look, can y'all please just tell us something? My sister doesn't even know if this is her son," pleaded one relative.
"They haven't told us anything either," an officer quipped back before a supervisor intervened.
As some relatives cried and held each other, a woman remarked "Why is it taking them this long? How long they going to have this baby out here?"
Investigations of homicide crime scenes in Chicago can often take several hours, in which the bodies of those killed are left in place as police evidence technicians process the scene.
Early Friday, the Cook County medical examiner's office identified the boy killed as Rayshon Price, who lived at the housing complex. He was among 14 people shot, two fatally, in Chicago on Thursday and Friday morning.
The scene remained tense as investigators continued their work. Half a dozen emotional people gathered outside of a six-story apartment building, where a glass front door was shattered by gunfire.
One man, clearly upset at the media attention, lashed out at reporters, prompting police to intervene. Eventually, a woman consoled him.
"You can't fight nobody," the older woman wearing a white long sleeve shirt said. "You gotta be there for your mom."
Later, he ran into the street several times toward a second group of people watching the scene. Several relatives restrained him, even as he broke loose of their hold and his shoe fell off in the commotion. It was unclear why he wanted to fight the people.
About two hours before, a 29-year-old was fatally shot in the head in the Park Manor neighborhood. A man exited a Chevrolet Equinox and opened fire. The victim was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
More recently, a 26-year-old man was shot during an attempted robbery in the River North neighborhood about 4:15 a.m. Friday. The victim told police he was inside a car in the 100 block of West Erie Street when two people pulled up in a car alongside him, showed a gun and announced a robbery. When the victim resisted, a gunman fired shots and fled.
Earlier on the Northwest Side, a man celebrating his birthday and two other people at the party barbecuing outside a West Rogers Park home were shot about 12:15 a.m. Friday. All three victims were taken to hospitals and released, according to preliminary information from a law enforcement source. A 34-year-old man was shot in the leg and arm a 21-year-old shot in the ankle were taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. A 35-year-old man was shot in the leg and taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
