A man and teenage boy were shot in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood early Friday, blocks away from Wrigley Field.
Witnesses say a large group was standing outside a popular nightclub around 3:15 a.m. in the 3200 block of North Sheffield, near Belmont and Sheffield avenues, when a silver Jeep drove past and opened fire.
The group of about 15 to 20 people took off running, police said, but a 25-year-old and 16-year-old were unable to avoid the gunshots. Both were hit in the legs.
Friends say they believe the two were targeted because they are gay, telling NBC5 one of the victims identifies as transgender.
“To know that we’ve got to keep watching over our shoulders and we can’t hang out here, just to be ourselves and what not, without people coming up here and shooting too,” one friend who witnessed the shooting, Jaleel Carter, told NBC 5. “You know, we can’t hang out on the South Side because we already deal with this. We can’t hang out on the West Side. Now we’re up here where the clubs are and we feel comfortable, and it still happens.”
Both victims were transported to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where their conditions were stabilized, police said.
It's the second violent shooting of the week in the North Side neighborhood.
Local
On Monday night a 27-year-old man was as shot in the neck while walking just a few blocks west near Belmont and Racine avenues.
