Six people were wounded in city shootings Friday as a heat wave moved into Chicago.
The last shooting of the 24-hour period wounded a 14-year-old boy who had just finished buying clothes with his family from a seller on Lower Wacker Drive.
About 6 p.m., the boy was struck in the right leg as he was walking up a set of stairs from Lower Wacker to a bustling rush-hour area near Wabash Avenue, Chicago Police said. His condition stabilized at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted that the shooter was riding a bicycle, which police radio chatter identified as a city Divvy bike.
Thomas Barnes, a Florida native who now lives in Chicago, helped the 15-year-old brother and uncle carry the boy up the stairs to an ambulance. Barnes said he was passing by when he heard five gunshots and yelled out for someone to call 911.
“I just happened to be walking by and I heard pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,” Barnes said, adding that the boy’s injury didn’t appear serious.
Other shootings Friday wounded five men on the South Side.
A man wounded in a Chatham neighborhood shooting took himself to an Oak Park hospital for treatment. The 23-year-old told investigators he heard gunshots and felt pain in his upper right arm about 2 p.m. as he walked in the 8000 block of South Cottage Grove, according to police. He took himself to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park for treatment. He was being uncooperative with investigators.
A 30-year-old was shot in the eye just past noon in the South Shore neighborhood. About 12:30 p.m., the man was found lying on the ground by a passing UPS employee in the 2800 block of East 77th Place, according to police. He had been shot in his left eye. He was taken in critical condition to University of Chicago Medical Center.
A 28-year-old man shot early Friday in the Englewood neighborhood. About 12:45 a.m., the man was inside a vehicle when he was shot in his back in the 5500 block of South Emerald Avenue, according to police. He showed up at University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was in serious condition.
The first two shootings Friday happened in the Gresham neighborhood.
About 12:40 a.m., a 19-year-old man was walking on a sidewalk in the 7700 block of South Racine Avenue when someone walked up and shot him, police said. He was hit in his back, and was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where his condition stabilized.
Less than half an hour earlier, a 44-year-old man was standing on a front porch in the 8100 block of South Sangamon when someone in a passing black SUV shot him, police said. He was struck in the leg, and was taken to Saint Bernard Hospital, where his condition stabilized.
Eight people, including two women in their 40s, were wounded Thursday in city shootings.
