13 Shot—Including 3-Year-Old Boy—In A Park On Chicago's South Side
By Chuck Sudo in News on Sep 20, 2013 1:55PM
Chicagoans were reminded of the city’s problems with gun violence this morning after 13 people were shot in a park on the city’s South Side late Thursday. The shooting, believed to be gang-related, happened at Cornell Square Park in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.
The shooting occurred around 10:15 p.m. when gunmen in a grey sedan opened fire on people in the park’s basketball courts. Witnesses say two men got out of the car and continued shooting. Among those injured was 3-year-old Deonta Howard. Howard, nicknamed “Tay-man,” was shot in the face and is now in stable condition at Mt. Sinai Hospital but will need more surgery. Howard’s uncle, Julian Harris, told the Chicago Sun-Times there have been frequent shootings in the area recently. “They’ve been coming round here looking for people to shoot every night — just gang-banging stuff. It’s what they do.”
Pastor Corey Brooks of New Beginnings Church on the South Side was called in by Howard’s family to comfort them at the hospital. Brooks told the Sun-Times the bullet passed through Howard’s face but that the child suffered no brain damage.
“They’re frustrated, upset and hurt and disappointed that this is just happening over and over and over in our community,” Brooks said. Brooks told DNAInfo Chicago, "If we minimize what happened in Back of the Yards, then we minimize life. We have to put the same value on lives, even if they are black lives in the city.”
The shooting led Mayor Rahm Emanuel to cancel meetings in Washington, DC with Cabinet officials and fly back to Chicago. A statement released by the mayor’s office read:
"Senseless and brazen acts of violence have no place in Chicago and betray all that we stand for. The perpetrators of this crime will be brought to justice and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I encourage everyone in the community to step forward with any information and everyone in Chicago to continue their individual efforts to build stronger communities where violence has no place."
Ten adults and two teens were injured along with Howard. Below are their ages and conditions, via the Chicago Tribune.
- A 17-year-old girl, shot in the foot, condition stabilized at Holy Cross Hospital;
- A 15-year-old boy shot in the arm, stabilized at Holy Cross;
- A man, 27, shot in the leg and wrist, serious condition at Mount Sinai;
- A man, 24, shot twice in the stomach, serious condition at Mount Sinai;
- A man, 21, shot in the leg, serious condition at Mount Sinai;
- A man, 41, shot in the buttocks, serious condition at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital;
- A woman, 33, shot in the shoulder, condition stabilized at Northwestern Memorial Hospital;
- A man, 31, shot in the buttocks, condition stabilized at Northwestern;
- A woman, 23, shot in the foot, condition stabilized at St. Anthony Hospital;
- A man, 37, shot in the leg, in good condition at Stroger;
- A man, 25, shot in the knee, in good condition at Northwestern;
- And a man, 33, who drove himself to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park with a gunshot wound to the leg and who was treated and released.