Chicago police said at least one gunman walked up to a basketball court at Cornell Square Park in the southside of Chicago on Thursday evening and opened fire, injuring 13 people, including a 3-year-old boy, The Chicago Tribune reported. The police said the thirteen people shot had various degrees of injuries. The woundedwere treated at local hospitals in the city's Back of the Yards neighborhood, after 10 ambulances arrived on the scene.
"It's a miracle there has been no fatality. Illegal guns. Illegal guns. Illegal guns drive violence," Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said at a news conference 12 hours after the shooting. "A military-grade on the streets of Chicago is simply unacceptable."
Chicago's law enforcement believe the the shooting stemmed from an ongoing dispute between rival gangs, the Black P. Stones and Gangster Disciples. Gangbangers with dreadlocks in a gray sedan opened fire, witness Julian Harris told the Chicago Sun-Times.
"I was across the park and I heard the shots and I came over and there was a lot of people down. It happened so fast," one neighbor said, adding that he heard as many as 20 shots.
First paramedics found more than a dozen people sprawled across the basketball court, as even a pair of basketball shoes were left near the baselines.
Deonta Howard, the 3-year-old boy, was shot was hit near the ear with the bullet reportedly going through his cheek, police and relatives described. While expected to survive, Deonta need plastic surgery.
Another victim, a 37-year-old man, had been shot in the leg. "I turned around, I heard screaming,'' he said. "I saw Tay Man." He paused. "I just saw his face.'' He struggled again for words. "Just tore off. . .They almost shot his whole face off.''
Other gunshot victims including a 15-year-old and 17-year-old as well as a 33 year-old woman, who was hit in the back, news reports said.
Ron Gaines, a police department spokesman, said that no arrests have yet been made, as victims continue to be interviewed by authorities.
The shootings come nearly three weeks after an outburst of gun violence over the Labor Day weekend, which ended with eight dead and 20 injuries. A spate of gun violence in the city also occurred in mid-June.
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