Man shot to death near two Lawndale charter schools

A man was killed in a shooting Tuesday near an elementary and high school in Lawndale on the West Side.

Officers responding to reports of gunfire at 8:36 a.m. found 28-year-old Jeremiah Murphy Jr. with multiple gunshot wounds to his chest in the 1500 block of South Christiana Avenue, according to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Murphy was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said. He lived in Austin on the West Side. An autopsy found he died of a gunshot wound to the back, the medical examiner’s office said.

The shooting occurred minutes after the 8:30 a.m. start of classes at North Lawndale College Prep High School, less than a block away at 1615 S. Christiana Ave. A representative for the school said there was no lockdown implemented after the shooting and all students are accounted for.

Kipp Ascend Primary School, 1440 S. Christiana Ave., is also less than a block from where the shooting occurred. The school was put on lockdown after school officials learned of the shooting, KIPP Chicago Schools CEO Michael Salmonowicz said in an email.

“Once an all-clear order was received from the CPD, the school resumed normal operations,” Salmonowicz said. School started about an hour before the shooting.

Tuesday is the first day of school for Chicago Public Schools students, but classes at Kipp and North Lawndale began in mid-August.

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