MORGAN PARK — Seven-year-old Elija was walking down the street in Morgan Park near his home Wednesday afternoon when he was shot by another person who witnesses described as another boy or young teen.
He was near the intersection of 109th Street and Loomis Street around 3:20 p.m. when he was shot in his left shoulder, said Officer Veejay Zala, Chicago Police spokesman.
According to witnesses, the boy is known in the neighborhood as Elija, a spry, short 7-year-old who moved into the area with his family about a year ago.
After Elija was shot, a neighbor picked him up, put him in her car and drove him the block and a half to the house of a close family friend, according to that family friend, who asked not to be named.
"My son and his friend ran inside and were like, 'Elija's shot!'" he said, adding that he didn't initially believe the boys. "The neighbor who brought him over ran in and told me to get a towel. It was just chaos."
The family friend said he grabbed a towel and looked into the window of the car to see Elija, sitting upright and talking. He only started to cry once his mother arrived.
"I thought [Elija's mom] was gonna pass out," the family friend said.
When he looked at the boy's wound, the family friend said that sure enough, there was a bullet hole lodged in the boy's left shoulder that had not come through the other side.
Shortly thereafter, paramedics and police arrived outside the family friend's house. The boy was taken to Comer Children's Hospital in stable condition, Zala said.
The shooting occurred less than a mile away from Jackie Robinson Park, the home field of the Jackie Robinson West baseball team.
Police said they did not believe the boy was the intended target of the shooting, but other witnesses said the shooter, described to DNAinfo Chicago as a child or young teenage boy, acted brazenly and made no secret of his actions.
"He wasn't fast about it all. Usually if you do something wrong you're running as fast as possible," said a woman who saw the shooting from her kitchen window, adding that the shooter pulled out the gun, looked hesitant or nervous and didn't take off running until after firing shots.
The family friend who brought young Elija a towel for his wounds said that while adults might get involved in gun violence, people should know better than to get a kid involved.
Witnesses near the scene who know Elija and his family agreed, saying while the adults in the area are no strangers to shootings, it was especially tragic to see children involved — as perpetrators or victims of violence.
"We can't desensitize ourselves, even though it happens a lot, we can't just get used to it," said a witness whose own children have been on playdates with Elija. "It just gets closer and closer to home. Anybody is gonna hurt because that's a child."
She added, "I'm hurt for both of them, that this child got hurt and this child decided to go that route to do this. I got kids myself, and I'm hurt either way."
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