ROGERS PARK — A teenager was stabbed at Schreiber Park Monday after being chased by a group of teens shouting "gang, gang," police and witnesses said.
Police described the victim as a 17-year-old black male. He was treated and released from St. Francis Hospital in Evanston after police arrived at the park about 4 p.m. Monday, said Rogers Park Police District Cmdr. Thomas Waldera.
Waldera said the attackers were affiliated with the Latin Kings street gang and the stabbing was likely part of a three- or four-year-old "simmering gang conflict" between the Kings and ICGs, or Insane Cutthroat Gangsters, a faction of the Gangster Disciples.
The gangs' territories share a border along Clark Street, near the park at 1552 W. Schreiber Ave.
Although the fight was a "small skirmish," Waldera said, he increased patrols in the area.
A witness, who wished to remain anonymous, said he saw the victim get "jumped" by two teenagers, who then began to kick and punch him.
He said he heard shouts of "gang, gang" during the attack, which lasted less than a minute.
The attackers then fled over a fence and jumped into the sliding door of an old silver and black minivan that drove away on Ashland Avenue, the witness said.
The victim tried to get up but collapsed, said the witness, who was at the park with his 4-year-old son.
The Rogers Park Police District headquarters on Clark Street is less than 500 feet from the park, and Waldera said his officers don't face many problems there.
"It's a super-quiet park," he said.
