Teen Girl Among 3 Dead, 8 Wounded in Tuesday Shootings

Hadiya Pendleton was shot in the back while hanging out with friends in Vivian Gordon Harsh Park, police say

A 15-year-old girl and two men were killed, and at least eight other people were wounded by gunfire throughout the city Tuesday, police said.

Police say 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton died after she was shot in the back while hanging out with a group of teens in Vivian Gordon Harsh Park about 2:30 p.m.

Pendleton was taking shelter from the rain under a canopy, when an unidentified man or boy jumped a fence and ran toward the group and opened fire, police said. The shooter then fled in a vehicle.

A teenage boy was also shot in the leg during the shooting, which occurred in the 4500 block of South Oakenwald Avenue, near King College Prep High School.

The pair was taken to University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, where Pendleton died at 3:10 p.m., according to police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

Police said Pendleton was not a gang member and was most likely not the shooter’s intended target. But most of the teens with her, who also fled the scene, are believed to be gang members, police said.

Residents of the upscale, white-collar neighborhood were dismayed by the shooting, which some said was a first for their block.

"I was torn apart, shocked. I cried when I heard about it," said resident Robin Hollis, who has lived across the street from the park for about 20 years.

Earlier in the day 27-year-old Devin Common was shot dead while two other men were critically wounded in a Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood shooting, according to family members and authorities.

The three were shot shortly after noon in the 7400 block of South Champlain Avenue, police spokesman Michael Sullivan said. Police took at least one person in custody and recovered a weapon, the Chicago Sun-Times reported, citing a source.

Family members identified the victim as Common, fire department spokesman Larry Langford said.

"I couldn’t believe it was happening all over again," said Kimberly Common, who lost another son, 23-year-old Antonio Common, to gun violence in an alley near the corner store at East 75th Street and South Langley Avenue.

Earlier, on the city's southeast side, officers found 20-year-old Gino Angotti dead in the 10900 block of South Mackinaw Avenue with a gunshot wound to the head, police said. Angotti, of the 10900 South Buffalo Avenue, was found just before 8 a.m.

A while later, a male was shot at least once in the back in the 7100 block of South King Drive about 1:40 p.m. He was taken in critical condition to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, authorities said.

About 2:25 p.m., a 23-year-old man walked into Saint Bernard Hospital and Health Center with a gunshot wound to the leg, police said.

Later, a 29-year-old man was shot in the leg and hand in the 8700 bock of South Laflin Street about 3:10 p.m., police News Affairs Officer Daniel O’Brien said.

Hours earlier, a 26-year-old man was shot in the leg in the 2200 block of West 71st Street about 2 a.m. and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in “stable” condition, police News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said.

What appears to be the first shooting of the day happened about 12:15 a.m., when a male was shot in the left foot and leg in the 2400 block of West Huron Street and taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, police said.

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