Two young girls were seriously wounded Wednesday night while playing in a Northwest Side park, just steps from where a community policing meeting was being held.
Just before 8 p.m., someone reportedly got out of a van and began firing shots at a group of people playing basketball in the 3500 block of West School Street, the Chicago Tribune reports.
A 2-year-old girl playing in a park near the court suffered a graze wound to her head, and a 7-year-old was shot in the upper back. Police believe someone flashed gang signs before the shooting.
Fox Chicago spoke to Avondale resident Jo Ann Trainer, who was attending a Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) meeting in the fieldhouse next to the park.
“I then heard screaming and crying,” Trainer told Fox. “It is a shame that people can’t enjoy themselves in the park on a hot day."
Trainer said she helped bring five crying children from the playlot into the fieldhouse following the incident. A police officer and 30th Ward Ald. Ariel Reboyras were also at the CAPS meeting, where local activists, community members and police officers meet to discuss solutions to violence.
The girls were taken to Children's Memorial Hospital, where the 2-year-old was listed in fair condition and the 7-year-old was in serious condition, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Police were reportedly questioning two people in the incident early Thursday.
"I'm disgusted," Trainer told the Tribune. "We keep saying it's going to happen. It's not the first time there's been shooting at this park, and unfortunately it takes something like this -- a child has to be hurt -- before they get more police here."