June 10--Eleven-year-old Jujuan Barnes was excited to be spending the day with his older brother and getting a chance to ride on a dirt bike.
As the two tinkered with the bike on a sidewalk in the 1800 block of North Monitor Avenue Tuesday afternoon, a Crown Victoria rounded the corner and the passenger opened fire, according to police.
A bullet went through the arm of Jujuan's brother, Dayqwon Smith, and struck Jujuan in the buttocks.
Their mother was sitting in a van nearby with their baby brother when she saw a speeding white car and heard gunfire.
"I was screaming because my son said, 'My little brother got hit,' " said Jamie Ellis. "He didn't know he was shot.''
As Smith took off his shirt and pressed it on his brother's wound, Ellis said she saw blood streaming down the older son's arm. "He was more concerned about his younger brother.
"I was so scared. I was so shocked, I couldn't even pick up the phone. I was so nervous I couldn't find my keys. I couldn't think,'' Ellis said.
She put the 9-month-old baby in a car seat and drove her wounded sons to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park about two miles away.
Ellis said she told the nurses what happened, then rushed out to pick up several of her other children from school.
Jujuan suffered "a lot of muscle damage" and was transferred to Lurie Children's Hospital, Ellis said. Smith was released after being treated, she said.
The two brothers had decided to spend the day together, Ellis said.
"They wanted to ride bikes,'' she said, adding that Jujuan was "so excited and anxious'' because his brother was going to take him for a spin on the back of one.
Police reported no one in custody. The car, according to a police report, was an older model Ford Crown Victoria with temporary tags.
