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Woman Shot While Holding Baby in Pill Hill: Neighbors

By  Darryl Holliday and Kyla Gardner | June 6, 2013 4:45pm | Updated on June 6, 2013 9:28pm

 Pill Hill Shooting
Pill Hill Shooting
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PILL HILL — A woman holding her baby was shot, and her neighbor barely escaped a flurry of bullets that crashed through his window and lodged in his living room wall Thursday afternoon, Pill Hill residents said.

Carmen Jones was standing in front of her South Side home when at least five shots rang out, friends said. Her neighbor, Al Hogan, called the police after two of the shots bore into his wall.

"She was hollerin', 'I'm shot, I'm shot, somebody help me,' " he said.

Two bullet holes could be seen in Hogan's living room, which doubles as his business office. Hogan said he had just stepped away to the bathroom when the shots came through, hitting the spot near where his head would have been.

"I'd be sitting right here on the phone," he said, half in shock at the holes in his wall. "That was just inches from hitting me."

Jones was shot once in her body about 3:30 p.m. in the 1700 block of East 93rd Place, police said. She was stabilized by paramedics on scene before being taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center.

The shooting was directly across the street from Amelia Earhart Elementary School, where her two kids and the child of her neighbor, Erica Edwards, attend.

Jones and Edwards had arrived at their neighboring homes together, but Edwards said she wasn't in her home for more than a few minutes when she heard eight loud shots. By the time she could get outside, Jones had been hit, blood from her wound seeping through her shirt.

"She said she had the baby with her," said Edwards, a 10-year resident of the area.

Residents, including Edwards, described their neighbors as a hardworking and the area as quiet. They said the shooting came as a surprise.

According to Edwards, residents of the block call the area, bordered by Stony Island Avenue and Jeffery Boulevard along 93rd Street, "the cuff" because it sits between rough neighborhoods.

"We're all tight here," said Hogan, who has lived in the neighborhood for 40 years. "Usually the kids are all over. I hope it was a random shooting and not a sign of the neighborhood."

Jones was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in stable condition, officials said.

No suspects were in custody Thursday night, police said.