Boy, 9, shot in the face in Back of the Yards, days after 14-year-old girl killed in the South Side neighborhood

A 9-year-old boy was shot in the cheek while playing outside a home in Back of the Yards Tuesday evening, less than a week after a 14-year-old girl was shot and killed about a mile and a half away.

The boy was in a front yard in the 5400 block of South Morgan Street when gunfire erupted shortly before 7 p.m., according to police.

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A black Lexus SUV had stopped on the street and someone inside opened fire, police said. A person then got out and fired more shots. It’s unclear who the target was.

The SUV and the shooter drove off north on Morgan. The mother rushed the boy to Comer Children’s Hospital, where police said he was in good condition.

Over a dozen shell casings littered the scene, community activist Andrew Holmes said. “You shouldn’t have to shield your children,” Holmes told the Sun-Times. “The streets belong to the kids.”

So far this year, at least 53 shooting victims have been 15 or younger, compared to 43 last year, an increase of 21%. But children in Chicago are dying from gun violence at a rate three times higher than last year, according to a Sun-Times analysis.

Ten children 15 or younger have been shot dead so far this year, up from the three children fatally shot during the same time in 2020, according to Sun-Times records. And that’s more than the number killed in all of 2019, the data shows.

The most recent child killed was last Wednesday, also in Back of the Yards. Savanah Quintero, 14, was chased down and shot in the head after her attackers asked if she was in a gang.

Police believe her shooting is linked to a conflict between a long-entrenched gang in the South Side neighborhood and a relatively new one in the area.

There have been no arrests in the shooting of Savanah or the 9-year-old boy.