CHICAGO — Two men were in critical condition after being shot in South Shore Friday, officials said.
A 25-year-old man and 28-year-old man were shot about 5:32 p.m. in the 1700 block of East 71st Street, said Officer Veejay Zala, a police spokesman.
The 28-year-old man was hit in the chest, and the 25-year-old man was hit in the right hand and hip, Zala said.
Both men were both taken in serious condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Zala said.
Two men, who declined to be named, watched from across the street as police surveyed the scene of the shooting Friday evening.
One man said he was a block away when he heard the shots. He said he would not call the area particularly violent.
"It's like any neighborhood," he said. "You never know when or where it's going to happen."
The other man agreed.
"It's Chicago," he said, adding he had just gotten word of another shooting at West 95th Street and South Jeffrey Boulevard. "It's that spring weather."
The men said the empty lot where the shooting took place is not a big hangout spot in the neighborhood but said people do congregate there at times.
Fire officials said the men were taken in critical condition to Northwestern.
