CPS worker charged in shooting near Far South Side charter school

A young man hired by the Chicago Public Schools to help students during arrival and dismissal at a charter school has been charged with shooting a 17-year-old girl just blocks from the school on the Far South Side.

Shelby Crawford, 18, was being held on $900,000 bail in the shooting, which happened around 4:15 p.m. Wednesday in the 1300 block of West 111th Street and left the girl with a gunshot wound to the chest, authorities said. She was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in serious condition.

Though Crawford was described as a Safe Passage Route worker by prosecutors, CPS spokesman Bill McCaffrey said Saturday the man was listed as a student support worker for the school in the 1200 block of West 109th Street.

Foundations College Prep does not have a Safe Passage Route.

McCaffrey said school support workers are based out at the school to help “when needed at dismissal and arrival times.”

“It is not in a security capacity,” McCaffrey said.

Authorities said Crawford is on probation for a juvenile gun case.

The school serves sixth- and seventh-graders. Dismissal time that day was 4 p.m.

Crawford is charged with unlawful use of a weapon, aggravated battery with a firearm and not having a Firearms Owner Identification card, police said.