Thread: 3-year-old boy among 13 injured in shooting at Chicago park

3-year-old boy among 13 injured in shooting at Chicago park

By David Simpson and Tina Burnside, CNN
updated 11:01 AM EDT, Fri September 20, 2013



STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: "They said he is going to be OK," grandmother of 3-year-old victim says
• The 3-year-old boy was shot in the ear, and 12 other people also were injured
• Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel cancels a trip to Washington after the shooting
• Police call the shooting gang-related; no suspects were in custody late Thursday

(CNN) -- A mass shooting at a Chicago park left a 3-year-old boy in critical condition and returned the spotlight to gun violence in the city with the nation's highest number of homicides.

The child was among 13 people shot in Cornell Square Park on the city's South Side late Thursday night. None of the other victims was listed in critical condition early Friday.

The shooting prompted Mayor Rahm Emanuel to cancel a trip to Washington.
"Senseless and brazen acts of violence have no place in Chicago and betray all that we stand for," the mayor's office said in a statement. "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."

Chicago's record murder rate: Don't blame guns alone


3-year-old Deonta Howard was shot in the head.

Investigators believe Thursday night's shooting was gang-related, said Officer Ron Gaines of the Chicago Police Department. The 3-year-old victim, Deonta Howard, was shot in the ear, and the bullet exited through his mouth, he said.

The violence "needs to stop," said a tearful Semehca Nunn, the boy's grandmother.

Nunn said she came home to find police and television cameras all around.
"Y'all out here killing these innocent people, kids, parents, grandparents, mothers, fathers; it's got to stop. You need to stop," she said.

Deonta's condition has stabilized, and he is heavily sedated and will have plastic surgery on his face, Nunn said.

"They said he is going to be OK," she said. "That's what Grandma gave him, strong man, 3 years old, strong survivor."

The other victims included two 15-year-olds who were listed in stable condition, Gaines said. The rest were adults ages 21 to 41. Four were in serious condition.

The conditions of the others were listed as stable or good. One adult was treated at a hospital and released.

Video from CNN affiliate WLS-TV showed police had taped off an outdoor basketball court at Cornell Square Park.

No suspects were in custody late Thursday.

"It's pretty frustrating, it's very disappointing this is happening in our neighborhood once again," said the Rev. Corey Brooks, a spokesman for the 3-year-old's family.

On any given day, any child in the park or walking to school can be shot, until the community does something about it, he said.

"The truth is that in Chicago, we are facing murders every single day on the south side and west side," Brooks said. "Blacks and Latinos are facing extreme violence."

Opinion: Treat Chicago gangs as terrorists

The January shooting death of another child, 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, brought national attention to Chicago because the band majorette had performed in Washington at events surrounding President Barack Obama's inauguration in January.

The president invited Pendleton's parents to his State of the Union speech in February. Obama mentioned her in that speech and a few days later when he returned to Chicago, his hometown, for another speech in which he pressed for stricter gun laws.

Police charged two men in Pendleton's death. They said the two were gang members seeking revenge and mistook Pendleton for someone else.

The FBI's annual crime report this week showed Chicago had 500 homicides in 2012, up from 431 in 2011 and more than any other American city. Chicago officials have said homicides this year are below the 2012 pace.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/20/justice/chicago-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

20 shot, 2 dead in attacks across city

Staff report11:14 a.m. CDT, September 20, 2013

At least 20 people were shot, including two fatally, in attacks in Chicago Thursday evening and early this morning, authorities said.
During one shooting Thursday night about 10:15 p.m. in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, 13 people, including a 3-year-old boy, were shot at Cornell Square Park, authorities said.

A 29-year-old woman who was shot at 79th and Wood streets was pronounced dead at 4:18 a.m. at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. The woman's name was not being released immediately, according to the medical examiner's office.

Chicago Fire Department spokesman Will Knight said paramedics responded at 11:54 p.m. Thursday.

In another fatal shooting, a 36-year-old man was shot near 77th Street and Sangamon Avenue about 6:56 p.m. Thursday, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Daniel O'Brien. The man suffered multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body and was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital in critical condition.

The man was later declared dead, according to the medical examiner's office.

In the first shooting, a teenage boy was shot in the foot in the 700 block of West 72nd Street in the Englewood neighborhood about 6:35 p.m., said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Daniel O’Brien. The victim, who told police he had heard shots, then felt pain, but otherwise gave little information about the shooting, was in good condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

About 6:52 p.m. in the 3800 block of West 57th Place in the West Elsdon neighborhood, two men in their 20s were shot, O’Brien said.

One was shot in the stomach, and the other suffered a graze wound to the thigh, and both had had their conditions stabilized at Christ Medical Center.

Just after 7:15 p.m., a 28-year-old man was shot in the stomach in the 5700 block of South Aberdeen Street in the Englewood neighborhood, O’Brien said.

About 10:31 p.m., a 21-year-old man was shot in both legs in the 5500 block of West North Avenue in the Austin neigborhood. An attacker came up to the man and shot him, then fled north on Luna Avenue, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Ronald Gaines.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-chicago-shootings-violence-sept-19-to-20-4-shot-on-south-side-20130919,0,3683126.story

Top cop on park shooting: 'Miracle there has been no fatality'

Grandmother and great aunt of the 3-year-old girl Deonta' Howard, who was shot at South Side park talk about the shooting.
By Peter Nickeas and Jeremy GornerTribune reporters11:34 a.m. CDT, September 20, 2013

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said it was a "miracle" no one was killed when someone opened fire with a high-powered rifle at a park in the Back of the Yards, and he renewed his call for a ban on assault weapons.
"A military-grade weapon on the streets of Chicago is simply unacceptable," McCarthy told a news conference this morning, 12 hours after a 3-year-old boy and 12 other people were shot during a pick-up basketball game in Cornell Square Park.
"It's a miracle there has been no fatality," he said. "Illegal gun. Illegal guns. Illegal guns drive violence."

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• Photos: 3-year-old Deonta' Howard
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• Special report: Chicago Under the Gun
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• 1800 West 51st Street, Chicago, IL 60609, USA

Police say at least one gunman walked up to the park's basketball court in the 1800 block of West 51st Street around 10:15 p.m. Thursday and opened fire. Thirteen people who were on the court or were watching the game were hit, many of them in the arms or legs.
The boy, Deonta Howard, was standing on the court and was shot near the ear, the bullet exiting through his cheek, according to police and relatives. His family said the boy is expected to recover but will need plastic surgery.

Three of those wounded, including Deonta, were in serious to critical condition this morning. The others ranged from serious to good condition, including a 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl.
Police believe the shooting stemmed from an ongoing dispute between the Black P. Stones and Gangster Disciples, a law enforcement source said. It was not known if any of the victims were intended targets.
Police said they were questioning several people, but would not say whether any of them were suspects.
"I think it was like an AK," said one neighbor, describing the shooting. "Man, it was a lot of shots. Man, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. A little boy got hit in the face."
Another neighbor said he heard as many as 20 shots. "I was across the park and I heard the shots and I came over and there was a lot of people down. It happened so fast. They were just playing ball, like they do everyday."
The first paramedics found more than a dozen people lying across the rust-colored court. One person lay near a bicycle that was on its side. A pair of white gym shoes were left near an out-of-bounds line.
Ambulances continued to arrive a half hour after the shootings as wounded people were brought out of the park on stretchers. About 60 police officers converged on the park and crime lab investigators combed the scene.
Deonta was taken in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, police said. Nunn said her grandson, nicknamed Tay Man, is heavily sedated and will need plastic surgery.
“He tried to get up and go, he’s not trying to be pinned down by nobody,’’ she said.
“He’s not your average 3-year-old," Nunn said. "He’s very smart, he’s beyond his years. I don’t know if you’ve heard the saying, 'He’s an old soul.' That’s the best words to describe him. He’s an old soul.
“He's friendly for the most part, very outgoing, outspoken,’’ Nunn said. “He likes the limelight, he’ll let you know who he is."
The boy's older brother, Jamarrie Toney, 9, returned to the park with his aunt this morning and said he still hasn’t seen his brother. “I just miss him,’’ he said.

Jamarrie, whose favorite subject at Beethoven Elementary is math, said he was at his aunt’s home across the street when he heard the shots.

”I just got up and ran to this gate,’’ Jamarrie said, pointing to the edge of the park. “My younger brother was on the floor,’’ he said, crying.
One of the other victims, a 37-year-old man shot in the leg, said he hanging out around the basketball court, as he and his friends normally do, when the shooting started.

“I turned around, I heard screaming,’’ he said. “I saw Tay Man." He paused. “I just saw his face.’’ He struggled again for words. "Just tore off. . .They almost shot his whole face off.’’
The man, who asked that his name not be used, smoked a cigarette as he leaned on a cane after being released from the hospital. Medical tape held down a piece of cotton gauze on his left arm, and he was missing the shoe from the leg where he had also been shot.

Asked if he was angry, the man replied, “I’m just grateful, grateful to be alive.’’
Mayra Rodriguez, 23, who lives in the area with her 2-year-old daughter, heard rapid gunfire and then saw people on the ground. “Good thing most of them got hit in the legs,’’ she said.

“That kid was playing, he didn’t even know nothing, it was out of nowhere,’’ she said of the 3-year-old.

Rodriguez said there was a fatal shooting in the park about two years ago, and she tries to avoid it.

Rodriguez and her mother, Elvia Gonzalez, 45, said they had heard gunfire earlier in the evening, around 4:30 p.m. or 5 p.m. Rodriguez said her daughter was playing outside at that time and Gonzalez grabbed the girl and ran inside the house.

As the two talked Thursday night, the 2-year-old girl walked toward the street from the parkway and peered around the corner toward 51st Street to watch the last ambulance leave. She rested one hand on her mother’s leg as she chewed a finger.

Earlier, as her mother spoke, the girl twirled around a light pole. She wore tiny gold hoop earrings, purple pants and a red T-shirt that read, "My heart belongs to Grandpa."

“She don’t even know. . .She’s just pointing at the light,’’ Rodriguez said.

Alejandro Cabada, 20, leaned out of his second-floor window near 50th and Wood streets about an hour after the shooting. He said he’s lived in the area for about seven years.

“Once I opened a beer can, I heard shots,’’ Cabada said. “I opened the fence in the back. They reversed up the alley and then toward Ashland, the car peeled out.’’

“A brown Malibu with tints dipped toward Ashland Avenue. . . A brown Malibu with its lights off was peeling off,’’ Cabada said. “Some young kid said they shot his little brother.

“That was pretty much it, I just seen bodies on the floor, I seen three officers carrying the little boy. I didn’t hear no sounds.’’
Relatives said the boy's uncle, Jerome Wood, was fatally shot in the Woodlawn neighborhood over the Labor Day weekend. The Rev. Corey Brooks, who presided over Wood's funeral, urged the shooter or shooters to surrender or face justice on the streets.

There are people who know exactly who the shooter is," he said, standing next to Nunn. "And I'm sure he will not be safe shooting 13 people."
As dawn broke today, broken glass could be seen strewn across the basketball court, along with discarded medical supplies, syringes without needles, plastic packaging, orange gloves and a bloody T-shirt.

But as of 8:15 a.m., the court had been cleaned up by personnel from Fire Engine 123.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel was headed back to Chicago from Washington, D.C., where he was scheduled to meet today with Obama administration Cabinet secretaries on city issues, mayoral spokeswoman Sarah Hamilton said. Emanuel flew to D.C. last night ahead of swing that also was supposed to include a political fundraiser for Democratic New Jersey U.S. Senate candidate Cory Booker.
Emanuel also released a statement this morning about the Back of the Yards shooting. "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," the statement reads.
Before Thursday night's shooting, eight children under the age of 8 had been shot in Chicago over seven weeks.
Police listed the victims as: • A 3-year-old boy, shot in the ear, in critical condition at Mount Sinai
• 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.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-multiple-people-including-3yearold-shot-in-south-side-attack-20130919,0,4108485,full.story

UPDATE

Three killed, 23 wounded in latest Chicago shootings

USA TODAY 2 minutes ago

Written by Melanie Eversley

Latest round of shootings perplexing city officials. chicago_violence. Chicago police detectives investigate the scene where a number of people, including a 3-year-old child, were shot in a city park on the south side of Chicago on Sept. . . .

Reports: Two Arrests In Chicago Shooting That Wounded 13

by Mark Memmott
September 23, 2013 9:27 AM

"Two men are in custody in connection with last week's shooting in a South Side park that left 13 people injured," the Chicago Tribune reports.
The Tribune adds that:

"The men, both 22, were arrested around 7:30 p.m. Sunday in an abandoned building in the 5200 block of South Marshfield Avenue, police said. No charges have been filed.
"One of the men has been identified as the shooter in Thursday's attack in Cornell Square Park and the other as 'one of the individuals who participated in the shooting,' according to a police report."

Authorities have been saying it's likely the shooting was gang-related.
Chicago's WGN-TV adds that the youngest victim, 3-year-old Deonta Howard, is "recovering after surgery, and a family spokesman says he suffered no brain damage" from a wound to his head.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/09/23/225361605/reports-two-arrests-in-chicago-shooting-that-wounded-13

UPDATE

. . . Officials said 21-year-old Bryon Champ and 20-year-old Kewane Gatewood were charged in the shooting at Cornell Square Park, which is located in Chicago’s southwest side. . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/chicago-police-arrest-2-men-in-last-weeks-shooting-that-injured-13-including-3-year-old-boy/2013/09/23/510d092a-24c4-11e3-9372-92606241ae9c_story.html

4 charged in mass shooting at park:

'God took care of them'

Cornell Square Park shootings
Emergency personnel transport victims from the scene where 13 people, including a 3-year-old, were shot at Cornell Square Park in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. (E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune /September 19, 2013)

By Rosemary Regina Sobol, Jeremy Gorner, Carlos Sadovi and Ellen Jean HirstTribune reporters11:38 a.m. CDT, September 24, 2013

Two men in their 20s opened fire into a park on the South Side -- wounding a 3-year-old boy and 12 other people -- after one of the men had been grazed in the arm hours earlier, police said today.

They did not aim at anyone in particular but "just shot into the park" because they believed it was controlled by a rival gang, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told reporters this morning.

Tabari Young, 22, was armed with a military-grade weapon and fired off at least 16 rounds into the crowd of people at a basketball court at Cornell Square Park in the Back of the Yards neighborhood Thursday night, police said. Shell casings found around the blood-soaked court were of the kind typically ejected from AK-47 rifles. Police said it was a miracle no one died.

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Young was accompanied by Bryon Champ, 21, who also fired into the crowd, police said. Police said Kewane Gatewood, 20, supplied the high-powered gun Young used, while Brad Jett, 22, acted as a lookout.

Champ had suffered a graze wound earlier in the day and went to the park last Thursday night seeking revenge, according to McCarthy. "When Mr. Champ was shot, he believed a rival gang controlled the park and that's where they went."

Champ and Young did not target anyone in particular but "just shot into the park," McCarthy said.

Champ had been convicted of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon in July 2012 and was sentenced to boot camp at the Cook County Department of Corrections.

McCarthy said the mass shooting likely would not have occurred had he gotten jail time instead.

"He received boot camp for that gun crime and was back out on the streets to be a part of this senseless shooting," McCarthy said. "That is unacceptable. To truly address violence for the long-term, we need state and federal laws that keep illegal guns out of our communities and provide real punishment for the criminals who use them."

Mayor Rahm Emanuel released a statement calling for a three-year minimum sentence for illegally carrying a gun.

"One of the shooters should have been behind bars rather than in Cornell Park on Thursday night. As we invest heavily in programs for youth, in new policing strategies, and in building supports for those most likely to fall into gangs, we also need a three-year mandatory minimum bill for gun crimes," he said.

McCarthy said the investigation was continuing and more people may be charged.

The shooting erupted on a warm night when neighbors had gathered at the park and several of them were playing on the basketball court, including the youngest victim, 3-year-old Deonta Howard. A bullet hit the boy in the ear and exited his cheek.

His mother, Shamarah Leggett, 24, told the Tribune that her son is making a quick recovery, walking around his hospital room and refusing to take off his brand new Nikes when he sleeps. She said Denota was expected to go home in a few days, but he will require plastic surgery when the swelling goes down.

Leggett was at her son's bedside when police announced the charges this morning. Deonta was watching cartoons.

"I'm really happy, I've been praying for this. I want to go see them face to face and talk to these people," she said. "They shouldn't even be able to get a bond. I think it's crazy. Man, they just need to stop the violence. It's beyond out of control."

While she expects to tell her son that the men who shot him were caught, she says she can't tell him not to be afraid.

"The shootings are still going to go on, so I can't tell him he shouldn't be afraid because he's still in the world," Leggett said. "But I can tell him that the people who did this to him, God took care of them, it's OK. God took care of him too."

Family and friends of some of the suspects said they did not believe the allegations against them.

Young had a brother who was shot and killed by Chicago police in June 2008 in the Washington Park neighborhood on the South Side. Young's father died last year after an illness, she said.

"He's a good boy. It's just that he gets caught up. . .because there's no work," the mother said from the front door of her Back of the Yards home.

She declined further comment.

Donell Jackson said Young is his best friend and always helped him take care of his six children, the oldest of them 7. Jackson said Young would babysit for the kids and the two men would take the kids on outings, like to Chuck E. Cheese.

Young likes to draw and sketched designs that he later used as models for tattoos for himself, Jackson said. He doesn't believe his friend is in a gang, and he's confident he had nothing to do with the shooting.

"That don't fit him. That's not even him at all," Jackson said outside his two-flat in Back of the Yards. "He's got a good background. . .and stuff like that."

Jackson said Young got very depressed about his brother's death. Jackson said the two became close after that. "He was getting over it. But he was really close to him. too," Jackson said.

Jett used to live in a house two years ago on the same block where he and Young were arrested Sunday night.

Hector Rios, 47, said Jett would still come to the house from time to time to pick up mail. Rios said Jett and a few of his family members moved into a house across the street a few years back, but it has since been boarded up and the family moved out of the neighborhood.

Rios said he would give Jett and his mother and sister rides on errands. "He always was a nice guy to me," said Rios.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-chicago-mass-shooting-20130924,0,5829388.story