Another Typical Weekend: 4 Dead, 19 Wounded in Chicago Since Saturday, Including 14-year-old Boy

Chicago Tribune: A violent Saturday and Sunday morning in Chicago left four people dead and at least 19 others wounded, including a 14-year-old boy who was killed and a 15-year-old who was injured after a fight in a park in the North Kenwood neighborhood on the South Side.

The boys were on the street in the 4400 block of South Greenwood Avenue in the North Kenwood neighborhood when a car drove by and someone opened fire around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, according to police.

Tyjuan Poindexter

The 14-year-old, identified by his mother as Tyjuan Poindexter, was shot in the head and died on the scene. The 15-year-old boy was shot twice in the leg and was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, a police spokeswoman said.

Witnesses told police there was a fight between two groups at Kennicott Park, 4434 S. Lake Park Ave., not long before the shooting, and police were investigating if it was related. Authorities said the boys did not have criminal records or gang affiliations. The shooting happened two blocks from where 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was killed in January 2013.

The 14-year-old’s mother, Michelle Poindexter, gripped yellow police tape at the scene and yelled at the small group of neighbors huddled on the other side. “All you spectators? Go … home,” she cried. “My son dead. My son no gangbanger. He … 14 years old.”

One neighbor said she was sitting on her couch when she heard “what must’ve been about 20 shots fired.” “They must’ve been chasing someone,” she said. “All you could hear was pow, pow, pow, pow, pow.” Neighbors in hoodies and sweatshirts huddled together under the streetlamps. A few shared cigarettes, their eyes focused on the door of a home behind the police tape.

Two hours after the shooting, Poindexter continued to pace around the block, looking for a way to get past the yellow tape that blocked off the home. An officer explained that police would not allow the mother to see her son’s body because she might try to embrace him and possibly spoil evidence.

“She’s a mom,” a neighbor whispered, watching the mother as she trembled. “She’s gonna keep trying to get through.”

Another neighbor said the neighborhood is generally quiet. At first, she thought the gunshots were firecrackers. “It was like this about 30 years ago. Gang-infested area,” she said. “Now these little boys taking over. Thirteen, 14, 15. They just kids.”

No where to be seen in Chicago…

Read about the other shootings here.