Eight people were hurt during a drive by shooting on the South side of Chicago near 79th and Essex Thursday night. (Source: WGN - Chicago)
Police are searching for two gunman who opened fire from a car and wounded eight people standing on a South Side street, including two 14-year-old boys and a 15-year-old boy, authorities say.
The shooting likely stemmed from a conflict between two factions of a gang that uses 75th Street as a dividing line, according to police, who said some of the wounded people were not cooperating.
The shooting occurred around 9:15 p.m. at the intersection of 79th Street and Essex Avenue. Officers in the area heard gunshots, spotted a car speeding away and chased it, police said.
The car was later found abandoned near the South Shore Motel at East 81st Street and South Stony Island Avenue. Authorities said it was riddled with bullet holes and there was blood on the hood, leading police to believe someone on the block returned fire.
A trail of blood from the car led police to the motel, where police suspected the gunmen may have been in a first-floor room. SWAT officers were summoned to the scene and a helicopter hovered over the motel, shining a light onto the building.
Police entered the room after a few hours and recovered a few guns, but found no one inside, authorities said.
Police are searching for the two gunmen and possibly a third person in the car, authorities said, adding that one of them may have been shot. Investigators were looking at surveillance video from the motel.
An Emergency Medical Services Plan 1 was called for the shooting, sending six ambulances to the scene. The Chicago Fire Department took five of the wounded to hospitals, and the other three either went on their own or were given rides to hospitals.
The wounded included:
• A 19-year-old woman walking to work was shot in the arm and taken to Stroger Hospital.
• Two 14-year-old boys were stable. One was shot in the arm and taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, and the other was shot in the foot and taken to Children’s Memorial Hospital, police said.
• A 15-year-old boy was shot in the back of the neck and taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, and a 16-year-old boy was shot in the foot and treated at Advocate Trinity Hospital. A second 16-year-old boy was shot twice in the leg and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital.
• A 20-year-old was taken to Stroger Hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg, along with a 28-year-old who remained in serious condition with a gunshot wound to the chest.
Thursday night's shooting happened around the corner from another shooting that left two people dead and five others wounded after a gunman opened fire into a crowd standing in front of a liquor store on Feb. 19.
Shell casings from the shooting Thursday night littered the alley behind the liquor where the seven people had been shot.