Nov. 06--Two boys, including one who was waiting for his mother to pick him up from his South Chicago neighborhood high school, were among five people wounded Thursday in separate shootings in the city, police said.
About 4:30 p.m., a 14-year-old boy suffered a gunshot wound to the chest in an apparent drive-by shooting in the 2700 block of East 89th Street Avenue in the city's South Chicago neighborhood, said Officer Thomas Sweeney, a Chicago police spokesman. Sweeney corrected earlier information from police that the boy was shot on Escanaba Avenue and was 15.
According to a Chicago Fire Department spokesman, the boy was taken in serious-to-critical condition to Comer Children's Hospital, but his condition was stabilized. Fire Department crews were called to the scene at 4:34 p.m. and the victim was transported at 4:47 p.m., according to the spokesman.
The shooting took place near Baker College Prep and Bowen High School, and at least two crime scenes were set up, one on 89th Street between Marquette Road and Muskegon Avenue near where the two school buildings meet, and one in front of Baker on Muskegon. Students from Bowen said they heard about eight shots fired and saw teens running down 89th Street following the attack.
Joi Houston, 35, was on her way to pick up her son from Baker when she got a call from the school, saying her son had been involved in an accident.
"I was distraught, like, I can't breathe, I was in the middle of traffic, I was ..." Houston trailed off as she clutched her black cardigan tighter in front of Comer Children's Hospital as she waited for an update from her son's doctors.
"I know he's going to be OK," Houston said. "I'm praying he will be OK."
Houston said her son was shot twice in the wrist and once in the collarbone outside his school. Students and parents were at Baker late in the afternoon because it was report-card pickup day, and the school initiated a lockdown drill as soon as officials learned of the shooting.
Houston said when she saw her son in the hospital, he kept apologizing and was scared, saying he did not want to go back to school.
"I don't understand. It's senseless. Why?" she said. "He's outside of school doing what he's supposed to do."
"I thought I was going to be okay but when I saw him, I started to cry," said the victim's older brother, who is 17, after seeing him in the hospital. "He couldn't really move his arms. He couldn't really say 'I love you' back. It's hard to see him like that.'
A "sports guy" who loves football and basketball, Houston's son is a freshman at Baker and started high school this fall, the victim's mother said.
"My son is just the sweetest kid," she said. "And he just stays to himself. He's not one of those rowdy kids. He just stays to himself."
Houston said she was on the phone with a friend earlier Thursday, talking about the recent killing of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee.
"I was just telling her that this is just senseless, it don't make no sense," she said. "I was just on the phone with her and this happens. I get this phone call."
A Chicago Public Schools spokesman and a spokeswoman for Baker referred questions regarding the shooting to police.
About 2:45 p.m., another person was shot in the 2700 block of West 24th Street in the city's Little Village neighborhood, Sweeney said.
A 22-year-old man suffered gunshot wounds to the back and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, Sweeney said.
Police believe the shooting may have been gang-related.
About 1:30 p.m. Thursday, a 37-year-old man suffered gunshot wounds in an attack in the 600 block of East 79th Street, Sweeney said. Police had no further information about the attack.
Thursday morning, a man and a boy were wounded in separate shootings within minutes of each other on the West and South sides, according to police.
The boy was shot around 8:25 a.m. in the 900 block of North Latrobe Avenue in the South Austin neighborhood, police said.
He was hit in the abdomen and chest and was taken in critical condition to Stroger Hospital, according to police and fire officials. Authorities did not give his age but said he was a juvenile.
About 20 minutes later, a 22-year-old man was shot in the abdomen and arm in the 1300 block of West 73rd Street in the Englewood neighborhood, police said.
He was taken to Holy Cross Hospital, where he was stable, fire officials said.
