‘Why did they have to kill my daddy?’ Two friends shot dead inside Humboldt Park

In the moments after two men were gunned down inside Humboldt Park Monday, a woman ran up to the scene and yelled, “I just talked to him…Where’s my son?”

Not long afterwards, a young girl showed up crying and screaming, “Why did they have to kill my daddy...My daddy is dead.”

La Voz Sidebar

Lea este artículo en español en La Voz Chicago, la sección bilingüe del Sun-Times.

Relatives said the two men were close friends. They were near the street in the 1300 block of East Luis Muñoz Marín Drive when two gunmen approached and opened fire just after 3 p.m., Chicago police said.

Antwon Gee, 35, suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and Devel Syomon Jones, 34, was struck in the chest and head, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

A person was taken into custody and charges were pending, according to police.

Two weapons were recovered, police said.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

At the park, children continued to play on the playground while investigators worked the scene.

It was the second shooting in the Humboldt Park neighborhood in a little over two hours. Three people were wounded around 12:40 p.m. when two gunmen got out of a car and opened fire as the three stood near the street at Springfield Avenue and Thomas Street.

One person was shot in the hip and taken to Stroger Hospital, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said. Another person was shot in the leg, and a third person was shot in the arm, he said. They were both taken to Mount Sinai Hospital.

Police radio transmissions indicated the youngest victim, 16, was shot 11 times and was in critical condition. The other victims were 17 and 30, according to the unconfirmed radio chatter.

The shooting happened in the 11th police district, which covers parts of Humboldt Park and the East and West Garfield Park neighborhoods. Shootings in the district are down 21% over last year, from 95 to 75 through May 1, according to police statistics. But murders are up 6% over the same period, from 16 to 17.

The fatal shootings occurred in the neighboring 14th police district, where shootings are down 14% from a year ago, according to police statistics.