14 DAY TRIAL // Thirteen people have been injured in a shooting on Chicago's South Side, Thursday, September 19. A 3-year-old boy is one of the victims, officials say.
The shooting took place in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, at a basketball court in Cornell Square Park.
Police are classifying the incident as gang related. Ambulances were called in after 10:15 p.m. last night, and 10 vehicles were dispatched to the scene.
Two teens, a 17-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, incurred non-life-threatening wounds. The girl is stable and she has been hospitalized at Holy Cross with a gunshot wound to the foot. The young boy has been shot in the arm and he is currently at the same hospital.
Ten adults, aged between 21 and 41, have been injured. Wounds to the stomach, legs, knees and shoulders have been reported.
The Chicago Tribune informs that 3-year-old Deonte' Howard has been shot in the head, and he is currently in critical condition at Mount Sinai Hospital. A bullet pierced his cheek, uncle Julian Harris, 22, tells the Chicago Sun-Times.
Witnesses have described seeing two men get out of a vehicle and open fire at the park. They were previously spotted on the corner of Wood and 51st, where they shot at Harris.
“They hit the light pole next to me but I ducked down and ran into the house. [...] They’ve been coming round here looking for people to shoot every night — just gang-banging stuff. It’s what they do,” Harris recalls.
Corey Brooks, pastor of New Beginnings Church on the South Side, notes that the community will be visiting the victims in the hospital.
“They’re frustrated, upset and hurt and disappointed that this is just happening over and over and over in our community,” he says.