A young man hired by Chicago Public Schools to help students during arrival and dismissal at a charter school is behind bars for allegedly shooting a 17-year-old girl just blocks from the school on the Far South Side, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Shelby Crawford, 18, was ordered held on $900,000 bond on Friday in the shooting that left the teenage girl wounded in the chest at about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday in the 1300 block of West 111th Street, authorities said.
Although Crawford was described as being a Safe Passage Route worker by prosecutors, CPS spokesman Bill McCaffrey on Saturday said the man was listed as a student support worker for the school in the 1200 block of West 109th Street.
Foundations College Prep does not have a Safe Passage Route.
McCaffrey said school support workers are based at the school to help “when needed at dismissal and arrival times.”
“It is not in a security capacity,” McCaffrey said.
Authorities said Crawford is on probation for a juvenile gun case. CPS officials are examining why he was hired given his background.
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According to foundation’s website, the school serves 6th and 7th graders. Dismissal time that day was 4 p.m. The shooting happened just 15 minutes later.
The victim was listed at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in serious condition after the shooting.
Crawford is charged with unlawful use of a weapon, aggravated battery with a firearm and not having a FOID card, police said.
Crawford’s family declined to comment on the case when reached by phone Saturday.
