A Southeast Side family gathered together for a barbecue at the corner of East 79th Street and South Escanaba Avenue, the location where a teenage family member was killed exactly one year ago, to remember their lost relative. But the memorial gathering turned bloody, as a drive-by shooting struck five mourners, including a 10-year-old boy.
According to the Chicago Tribune, a suspect pulled up near the gathering in a car and began firing his weapon into the gathered crowd. Three men in their twenties and a ten-year-old boy were hit in the leg; they were all taken to South Shore Hospital where they were treated and released. The fifth victim, a 26-year-old, was shot in the head and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in critical condition.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the boy was discharged from the hospital around 11 p.m. Tuesday night. “My nerves are real bad,” said Angela Collins, his grandmother, who awaited him at the hospital. “It just doesn’t make sense.”
As far as a motive for the shooting, a WGN-TV report Tuesday night suggested that it was gang-motivated: the killing of the teenager one year ago had been a gang-related incident, the report said, and Tuesday's attack was motivated by the same gang rivalry. But that report was preliminary, and the information has been confirmed by no other sources.
Police do not currently have any suspects, and are investigating the shooting.
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