In the town that Billy Sunday couldn't shut down...
Police say at least one gunman walked up to the [Chicago] park's basketball court in the 1800 block of West 51st Street around 10:15 p.m. Thursday and opened fire. Thirteen people who were on the court or were watching the game were hit, many of them in the arms or legs.
Before Thursday night's shooting, eight children under the age of 8 had been shot in Chicago over seven weeks. Police listed the victims as:
A 3-year-old boy, shot in the ear, in critical condition at Mount Sinai
• A 17-year-old girl, shot in the foot, condition stabilized at Holy Cross Hospital
• A 15-year-old boy shot in the arm, stabilized at Holy Cross
• A man, 27, shot in the leg and wrist, serious condition at Mount Sinai
• A man, 24, shot twice in the stomach, serious condition at Mount Sinai
• A man, 21, shot in the leg, serious condition at Mount Sinai
• A man, 41, shot in the buttocks, serious condition at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital
• A woman, 33, shot in the shoulder, condition stabilized at Northwestern Memorial Hospital
• A man, 31, shot in the buttocks, condition stabilized at Northwestern
• A woman, 23, shot in the foot, condition stabilized at St. Anthony Hospital
• A man, 37, shot in the leg, in good condition at Stroger
• A man, 25, shot in the knee, in good condition at Northwestern
• And a man, 33, who drove himself to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park with a gunshot wound to the leg and who was treated and released.
With all these shootings in a "gun-free zone", you'd think that they would wise up to the fact that the problem might be something besides guns.
-fl