NEAR WEST SIDE — A 14-year-old was critically injured in a shooting Thursday afternoon on the Near West Side.
The teen was hit in the leg and the abdomen and taken to Stroger Hospital, police said.
He was walking outside near Polk and Western just after 3 p.m. when multiple people approached, firing shots before fleeing in a vehicle, police said. No one has been arrested, and Area North detectives are investigating.
The shooting took place as several neighborhood schools were releasing students for the day, including Manley and Jefferson high schools. Just a block west on Polk Street, Irving Elementary School was still in session.
"It's a very scary thing, a shooting in the middle of day," said one neighbor, who asked not to be named. "[And] when teenagers have guns ..."
The mid-day shooting took place near Tri-Taylor and blocks from the Illinois Medical District.
MAP: Where Shootings Have Occurred In Chicago Since 2010
So far, the only other 2017 shooting on the block of 700 South Western Avenue where Thursday's shooting took place was on May 20. That afternoon two men got out of a car and shot a 22-year-old man in his chest.
Bu last year, residents were frustrated with a rash of crimes that ranged from drug dealing, gunshots and cars speeding the wrong way down alleys.
There were a handful of shootings in the West Tri-Taylor area last year, including three on Western.
