http://www.suntimes.com/22678686-761/11-shot-including-3-year-old-in-back-of-the-yards-park.html
Eleven people were shot — including a 3-year-old — Thursday night on a basketball court at Cornell Square Park on the South Side.
The shootings happened about 10:15 p.m. in the 1800 block of West 51st Street in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Ronald Gaines said.
Julian Harris, 22, said dreadlocked gunmen in a gray sedan fired at him at the corner of Wood and 51st before turning north on Wood and shooting up the park.
Harris’ 3-year-old nephew, Deonte “Tay-man” Howard, was shot in the cheek but is expected to live, he said.
“They hit the light pole next to me but I ducked down and ran into the house,” he said. “They’ve been coming round here looking for people to shoot every night — just gang-banging stuff. It’s what they do.”
A 13-year-old neighbor said she was in her living room across the park when she heard multiple shots.
“I got down because I was scared,” she said in Spanish.
Neighbors around the park marveled at the sight of dozens of police.
“Now I’m scared after seeing this,” Claudio Patino said in Spanish. “I haven’t seen this ever. This is the first time.”
Kevin Green, 50, said he saw multiple injured victims being taken away on stretchers.
“The women were crying and screaming,” he said. “It was wild.”
Francis John, 70, was upstairs in her three-flat near the park when she heard gunfire: “It was a lot of boom, boom, boom.”
When she went outside to see what had happened, “A lot of youngsters were running scared,” she said.
She said she has lived in the neighborhood since 1983, and she was surprised by the shootings Thursday night because there hadn’t been a lot of gun violence in recent years. She said she saw he seen the neighborhood go from good to bad — 10 years ago — to better recently.
Eleven people were shot — including a 3-year-old — Thursday night on a basketball court at Cornell Square Park on the South Side.
The shootings happened about 10:15 p.m. in the 1800 block of West 51st Street in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Ronald Gaines said.
Julian Harris, 22, said dreadlocked gunmen in a gray sedan fired at him at the corner of Wood and 51st before turning north on Wood and shooting up the park.
Harris’ 3-year-old nephew, Deonte “Tay-man” Howard, was shot in the cheek but is expected to live, he said.
“They hit the light pole next to me but I ducked down and ran into the house,” he said. “They’ve been coming round here looking for people to shoot every night — just gang-banging stuff. It’s what they do.”
A 13-year-old neighbor said she was in her living room across the park when she heard multiple shots.
“I got down because I was scared,” she said in Spanish.
Neighbors around the park marveled at the sight of dozens of police.
“Now I’m scared after seeing this,” Claudio Patino said in Spanish. “I haven’t seen this ever. This is the first time.”
Kevin Green, 50, said he saw multiple injured victims being taken away on stretchers.
“The women were crying and screaming,” he said. “It was wild.”
Francis John, 70, was upstairs in her three-flat near the park when she heard gunfire: “It was a lot of boom, boom, boom.”
When she went outside to see what had happened, “A lot of youngsters were running scared,” she said.
She said she has lived in the neighborhood since 1983, and she was surprised by the shootings Thursday night because there hadn’t been a lot of gun violence in recent years. She said she saw he seen the neighborhood go from good to bad — 10 years ago — to better recently.
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