3 teens shot outside school; cops recover gun, blame gangs
School Shooting - WGN-TV's Marcella Raymond reports from Roosevelt High School
(The WGN FeedRoom)
By Veronica Gonzalez and Donna Freedman
Tribune staff reporters
Published February 8, 2002, 10:41 AM CST
Chicago police said today a shooting in which three people were wounded outside a Northwest Side high school was gang related, and they have recovered a weapon and are questioning a second person in connection with the Thursday afternoon incident.
The shooting happened about 2:40 p.m. on the corner of Wilson and St. Louis Avenues outside Roosevelt High School, 3436 W. Wilson Ave. A gun has been recovered, said Chicago police spokeswoman Officer Patrice Harper. Police questioned one person Thursday in connection with the incident.
A 16-year-old was shot in the back and was upgraded this morning from serious to fair condition at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said. A boy, 16, with a leg wound and a girl, 16, with an arm wound were treated at Swedish Covenant Hospital and released.
The girl was a Roosevelt student, but the boys were not, according to Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman Joi Mecks. The shooting occurred while Roosevelt was letting out for the day. Normally, its nearly 1,700 students are dismissed in two groups, at 2:15 p.m. and 2:52 p.m.
It is not known how many people witnessed the shooting, but the scene was "just chaotic," said Chicago police Sgt. Joe Schober.
A passerby who does not attend Roosevelt, Antoine Woodbury, 17, said he saw the shooting when he stopped to meet his cousin. Two teens were fighting outside the school, he said, while others watched. One onlooker "went into his book bag" and pulled out a gun, Woodbury said.
"He shot like three times," Woodbury said. "He hit two bystanders and the guy he wanted."
Roosevelt has a safety plan to deal with "gunshots or intrusion," Mecks said. Security guards lock the outside doors, and teachers lock interior doors. Some students said their teachers kept them in class. However, a student who heard the shots on his way to the restroom got a different reaction when he told his teacher.
"She said not to worry, that it was just firecrackers," said Robert Andino, 14. "I was terrified. I thought it was inside the school."
Copyright © 2002, Chicago Tribune
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