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2-Year-Old Boy, His Mom Shot Near Englewood Park

By  Emily Morris and Alex Parker  | June 30, 2013 9:21pm | Updated on June 30, 2013 11:02pm

 A boy and his mother were shot near an Englewood park.
Two-year-old boy shot
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ENGLEWOOD — Children were sent running from an Englewood park Sunday evening after a drive-by shooting left a 2-year-old boy and his mother wounded, neighbors and police said.

Police said the woman, 27,  was sitting in a van when a car drove by and fired shots about 6 p.m. in the 1700 block of West 73rd Street, adjacent to Murray Park. Witnesses said she was holding the boy on her lap.

The woman was shot in the arm and the boy was shot in the leg and both were taken to area hospitals in "stable" condition, police said. Police did not say if the two were the intended targets of the shooting.

A friend identified the woman as Leslie Freeman, and her son's name is Demonte.

Other children appeared to be in the van at the time of the shooting, witnesses said. A neighbor, who declined to be named, said she was told kids were in the park at the time and were sent running from the scene.

Englewood resident Lloyd Stewart, 45, said he was around the corner from the park when he heard shots. Soon after, he said saw someone put the boy and his mother, a friend of Stewart's, in their car to take them to the hospital. 

He said Freeman, who went by the nickname "Lady," has two other children. 

The park is a bustling spot for everyone to take their kids to play, Stewart said.

It's the same park where Derrick Rose shot hoops growing up and where he reportedly returned in September 2011 to see the park's $20,000 renovations, part of an effort to help keep it a safe place for residents to enjoy.

"It's the stuff outside the park that comes up here," Stewart said.

Freelance photographer Devlin Brown contributed to this report.