3-year-old Boy Among 13 Shot With AK-47 Military Grade Assault Rifle At Chicago Park

Deonta Howard

The shooting victims range from ages 3 to 41 years of age and no was reported killed. 

By H. Nelson Goodson

September 20, 2013

Chicago, Illinois - On Thursday, police responded to a massive shooting at the Back of the Yards neighborhood Cornell Square Park at the 1800 block of W. 51st Street. Around 10:15 p.m., a lone gunman walked up to a basketball court in the southside park and fired an AK-47 military grade 7.62 mm caliber assault rifle at the crowd. Sixteen spent cartridges were later recovered in the park area for evidence.

Thirteen victims were reported injured including Deonta Howard, 3, who was shot in the ear and the bullet exited his cheek. He is expected to have cosmetic surgery to repair facial damage.

The twelve other victims range in ages from 15 to 41-years-old. A boy, 15, was shot in the arm; a girl, 17, shot in the foot; a man, 21, shot in the leg; a woman, 23, shot in the foot; a man, 24, shot twice in the stomach; a man, 25, shot in the knee; a man, 27, shot in his wrist and leg; a man, 31, shot in the buttocks; a woman, 33, shot in the shoulder; a man 33, shot in the leg and a 41-year-old man also shot in the buttocks. Twelve of the injured victims were taken to numerous hospitals for treatment, the 33-year-old man who was shot in the leg drove himself to a hospital, police reported.

All the victims are expected to survive.

Police believe it was a gang related shooting, but no suspects have been arrested. Neighbors near the park report that the area is not patrolled regularly by police and the zone is considered gang infested by authorities. 

Chicago had just been ranked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as the number one murder capital in the U.S. Chicago out ranked the City of New York (NYC) with 500 reported homicides in 2012.

In 2011, NYC had 515 homicides compared to Chicago with 431.

The FBI reported that crime statistics showed the following 15 U.S. cities with the most reported homicides in 2012.

1. Chicago reported 500 murders
2. New York, 419
3. Detroit, 386
4. Philadelphia, 331
5. Los Angeles, 299
6. Baltimore, 219
7. Houston,  217
8. New Orleans, 193
9. Dallas, 154
10. Memphis, 133
11. Oakland, 126
12. Phoenix, 124
13. St. Louis, 113
14. Kansas City, 105, and
15. Indianapolis with 101 murders

Source FBI