On Thursday night, 13 people were wounded in a shooting at a Chicago Park. Of those shot, three people are in critical condition, including a 3-year-old boy. At least 10 ambulances were sent to the scene near Cornell Square Park, no deaths have been reported after a man allegedly opened fire around 10:15 p.m. with a high-powered rifle during a pick-up basketball game.

The police will interview victims of the shooting to determine the cause, but they still have no suspects and have made no arrests. Police believe it was gang involved, but not sure if the gangs had specific targets.

“A military-grade weapon on the streets of Chicago is simply unacceptable,” said Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy. “Illegal guns. Illegal guns. Illegal guns drive violence.”

The 3-year-old boy, identified as Deonta’ (pronounced Deontay), was shot in the cheek. The boy, nicknamed “Tay Man” suffered a gunshot wound to the head that entered near the ear and exited his mouth. Deonta’ was taken in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, police said. Deonta’s grandmother told sources that he is heavily sedated and will need plastic surgery.

A neighbor described the scene and said he heard as many as 20 shots. “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. They were just playing ball, like they do everyday.”

Of the other victims there were two teenagers, 15 and 17, and ten adults ranging from 21 to 41 in age.

One of the victims, a 37-year-old man shot in the leg, said he hanging out around the basketball court, as he and his friends normally do, when the shooting started.

“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.’’

All photos from the shooting can be viewed here.

This is just a small scale shooting compared to the others happening in Chicago. Thankfully, there were no fatalities. Several other large shooting sprees have occurred in Chicago with fatalities:
– After several unrelated shootings at the end of May, six people were dead and 11 were wounded.
– In June, a shooting involving teenagers, a 15-year-old was gunned down by police for pointing his gun at them.
– Just this month, over Labor Day weekend, eight people were killed and at least 25 other people were wounded in a string of shootings.

Crime statistics released this week by the FBI showed that Chicago, with 500 murders in 2012, and has replaced New York, with 419, as the murder capital of the U.S. And their new title is certainly understandable due to the string of violence and shootings.

Main Article Image via Chicago Tribune