At Least 3 Dead, 8 Wounded By Gunfire Throughout City
Updated 01/29/13 - 9:02 p.m.
CHICAGO (STMW) -- A 15-year-old girl and two men are dead, and at least eight other people were wounded by gunfire throughout the city Tuesday, police said.
Police say 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton died after she was shot in the back while hanging out with a group of teens in Vivian Gordon Harsh Park about 2:30 p.m.
Pendleton was taking shelter from the rain under a canopy, when an unidentified male jumped a fence and ran toward the group and opened fire, police said. The shooter then fled in a vehicle.
A teenage boy was also shot in the leg during the shooting, which occurred in the 4500 block of South Oakenwald Avenue, near King College Prep High School.
The pair was taken to University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital, where Pendleton died at 3:10 p.m., according to police and the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
Police say Pendleton was not a gang member and was most likely not the shooter's intended target. But most the teens with her, who also fled the scene, are believed to be gang members, police said.
Residents of the upscale, white-collar neighborhood were dismayed by the shooting, which some said was a first for their block.
"I was torn apart, shocked. I cried when I heard about it," said resident Robin Hollis, who has lived across the street from the park for about 20 years.
Earlier in the day 27-year-old Devin Common was shot dead while two other men were critically wounded in a Park Manor neighborhood shooting, according to family members and authorities.
The three were shot at 12:12 p.m. in the 7400 block of South Champlain Avenue, police News Affairs Officer Michael Sullivan said. Police took at least one person in custody and recovered a weapon, a source said.
One person was dead on the scene, Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford said. Family members identified that man as Common.
"I couldn't believe it was happening all over again," said Kimberly Common, who lost another son, 23-year-old Antonio Common, to gun violence in an alley near the corner store at East 75th Street and South Langley Avenue.
Earlier on the Southeast Side, officers found Gino Angotti, 20, dead in the 10900 block of South Mackinaw Avenue with a gunshot wound to the head, police said. Angotti, of the 10900 South Buffalo Avenue, was found about 7:55 a.m.
A while later, a male was shot at least once in the back in the 7100 block of South King Drive about 1:40 p.m. He was taken in critical condition to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, authorities said.
About 2:25 p.m., a 23-year-old man walked into Saint Bernard Hospital and Health Center with a gunshot wound to the leg, police said.
Later, a 29-year-old man was shot in the leg and hand in the 8700 bock of South Laflin Street about 3:10 p.m., police News Affairs Officer Daniel O'Brien said.
Hours earlier, a 26-year-old man was shot in the leg in the 2200 block of West 71st Street about 2 a.m. and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in "stable" condition, police News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said.
What appears to be the first shooting of the day happened about 12:15 a.m., when a male was shot in the left foot and leg in the 2400 block of West Huron Street and taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, police said.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
