Teen Shot Dead in Albany Park

As authorities scramble to find a way to stop the rash of student shootings in Chicago, another city teen was shot and killed in Albany Park last night.

Franco Avila, who suffered a gunshot wound to the torso, was found in the 4900 block of North Ridgeway Avenue, but was shot at 7:50 p.m. in the 3600 block of West Ainsle Street, according to police News Affairs Officer John Henry.

A description of the shooter was not immediately available, Henry said.

Police said the shooting might be connected to at least one other shooting in the area Tuesday night. Grand Central Area detectives are investigating, but nobody was in custody early Wednesday.

Shortly after the Albany Park shooting, a 15-year-old boy was shot by a masked gunman in Rogers Park.

The teen, who is said to have dropped out of Sullivan High School due to pressure to join a gang, was hit in the thigh, left side of the body and the buttocks, police said. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the boy was taken in serious condition to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston.

A recent report by CBS2 stated that 508 Chicago Public School students have been killed in the last 16 months.

With gun violence taking so many kids' lives this school year, police Supt. Jody Weis and the Rev. Jesse Jackson met today to discuss what Jackson has called "the massacre of our children."

Jackson told reporters at that meeting the the shootings and killings of teenagers in Chicago in the past year are "Baghdad numbers, war zone numbers."

"There is a state of emergency" in the city that demands stimulus job creation for young people, he said.

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