Three teenagers — including a 13-year-old — were killed this afternoon in a shooting on the Southeast Side.
The 13-year-old, Johnny Edwards, was remembered Friday evening by family and neighbors as a helpful boy who played in after-school sports programs and loved math and science.
“He was humble,’’ his uncle John Johnson said. “He showed respect. He helped his brothers, his sisters and cousins with their homework. He liked to help people.’’
Johnny was a seventh grader at Arnold Mireles Academy. He would have turned 14 on Monday.
The two other teens, boys aged 15 and 17, attended school at Bowen High School, school officials said.
Emergency personnel first responded to the shooting at 3 p.m. in an alley along 87th Street between Escanaba and Exchange, according to Chicago Fire Department officials.
But witnesses said the three victims were shot in different locations: one just south of 87th on Exchange, a second at 87th and Escanaba and a third a few doors down from there.
Supt. Jody Weis, who was on the scene after the shootings, said the teens were attacked by more than one shooter.
“It appears they were attacked by several individuals, one of which had an assault rifle,” Weis said at a news conference.
Johnny Edwards was taken to University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A witness, who asked not to be named, said two young men ran past him headed east on 87th near Commercial and started shooting. One of the men had what appeared to be an automatic weapon. The witness saw two of the teens being shot. The shooters then ran north through an alley.
The witness said the area is plagued by gang violence.
Cameras from the neighborhood were being reviewed by detectives, and specialized department teams were sent to the neighborhood in the wake of the shootings.
The shootings occurred less than a block from Immaculate Conception School at 8739 South Exchange. The elementary school began dismissing students at 2:45 p.m.
A secretary from the school said they heard gunshots and called police. School officials kept the students who were still on school grounds inside the building.
Via: The Chicago Sun-Times & chicagobreakingnews
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