A high school senior was walking in the Little Village neighborhood on April 10, when his mother says a man approached the 18-year-old and pulled out a gun and began shooting. Now, he is fighting to walk again after a bullet severed his spine.
“The three minutes he was outside turned our world upside down,” Linda, who asked not to be identified by her last name. “How can this happen to my son? We don’t bother anybody.”
Jonathan, a senior at Walter Payton College Prep, was walking to a car in the 2200 block of S. Marshall Blvd to get his cell phone charger on Sunday, April 10. A man wearing a hoodie approached him, according to Linda, and pulled out a gun.
“Jonathan said that the individual told him ‘What’s up little homie? Run it. West side,’" said Linda. “And then he took out the gun and started shooting at him.”
The offender shot at Jonathan at least seven times before jumping into a dark-colored van and fleeing the scene, according to Linda. Jonathan was shot once in the left shoulder, and that one bullet severed his spine, leaving him unable to walk. He was rushed to Mount Sinai, but has been transferred to Sinai’s Schwab Rehab Facility, where Linda says he is working hard to recover.
“We are not losing hope that one day he will walk again,” she said.
The family hopes that someone will step forward with information on the shooting, to bring the offender to justice.
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“It would be nice to get him off the streets so that he doesn’t do this to somebody else,” Linda said.
