Man who shot teens outside West Side library was held by witnesses until police arrived: prosecutors

Adam Avizius, 37, of Brookfield, allegedly ran into a store after shooting the boys, ages 12 and 16, outside the Legler Regional Library Branch last Tuesday.

SHARE Man who shot teens outside West Side library was held by witnesses until police arrived: prosecutors
Community activists joined hands Thursday to pray on the steps of the Legler Regional Library Branch in West Garfield Park, where a 12-year-old and a 16-year-old were shot Tuesday.

Community activists joined hands Thursday to pray on the steps of the Legler Regional Library Branch in West Garfield Park, where a 12-year-old and a 16-year-old were shot Tuesday.

Pat Nabong / Sun-Times

A man charged with shooting two teenagers outside a West Garfield Park library last week was held down by witnesses until police arrived, according to court documents.

Adam Avizius, 37, of Brookfield, allegedly ran into a store after shooting the boys, ages 12 and 16, outside the Legler Regional Library Branch last Tuesday, Cook County prosecutors said in the documents.

He was being punched by those witnesses as officers arrived to arrest him, the documents show.

Avizius appeared for a bond hearing Friday on a count of aggravated discharge of a firearm and was ordered held without bail by Judge Kelly Marie McCarthy, the documents show.

Prosecutors said shooting unfolded Tuesday evening outside the library in the 100 block of South Pulaski when Avizius began arguing with the 16-year-old boy, according to WTTW.

As Avizius began to walk away with the woman he was with, the boy allegedly walked up and hit him several times, WTTW reported. Avizius then allegedly grabbed a handgun and opened fire at the teen, who by then had run toward a group of other teens near the library.

Avizius allegedly fired the gun five times, striking the 16-year-old and the 12-year-old, who was a bystander who had just walked out of the library.

The 16-year-old was shot in the legs, and the 12-year-old was hit near his spine and was carried into the building by a security guard, police have said.

The 12-year-old had gone to the library nearly every day after school for help with homework and to participate in activities like painting, his grandfather, Darnell Weatherspoon, told reporters last week.

The boy was still in significant pain and struggling to walk but was not paralyzed by the gunshot, Weatherspoon said Thursday.

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