2 Teens Shot, Killed Accidentally
CHICAGO (STMW) - Two teenage boys -- ages 13 and 17 -- are dead following separate incidents of what appear to be accidental shootings on the West and Northwest sides.
Isaiah Mendez, 13, suffered a gunshot wound to the head on a second-floor porch at 3451 W. Beach Ave. in Humboldt Park on Tuesday, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
The shooting happened about 2:30 p.m., police News Affairs Officer Daniel O'Brien said. Mendez was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died at 3:25 p.m., the medical examiner's office said.
Police said the boy was apparently shot accidentally by somebody playing with a gun. He was shot "while in the company of several friends and handling the weapon," News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said.
It is being investigated as a homicide and "detectives are working to flesh out how (the gun) discharged," Mirabelli said. No one has been charged as of Wednesday morning.
On the Far Northwest Side near Harlem Avenue and Irving Park Road, 17-year-old Damien Cesar died after he was shot in the head in another apparent accidental shooting.
Cesar, of the 3900 block of North Nora Avenue, was shot at his home and pronounced dead at 12:54 a.m. at Our Lady of the Resurrection Medical Center, according to the medical examiner's office.
He was shot in the head about 12:20 a.m., News Affairs Officer Ronald Gaines said.
Jefferson Park District police said Cesar apparently accidentally shot himself while he and another person were playing with a gun. Mirabelli said, "It looks like he was handling (a gun) when the weapon discharged" and the shooting appears accidental.
Autopsies are scheduled on Wednesday for both teens. Grand Central Area detectives are investigating.
