Boy, 12, critically injured in South Side shooting by friend playing with gun
A 12-year-old boy was taken to the hospital in critical condition after he was shot Thursday evening inside a South Side home when a gun a friend was playing with went off accidentally, officials said.
The shooting took place in a high-rise building in the 3500 block of South Rhodes Avenue, in the Ida B. Wells/Darrow Homes neighborhood, around 7 p.m., Chicago Fire Department Deputy District Chief Curtis Hudson said.
The boy was inside a home when he was shot once in the chest, Chicago police said.
An acquaintance of the boy, also a juvenile, was handling a pistol when he “when he accidentally discharged the weapon,” hitting the boy, police said in an update late Thursday.
The friend fled the scene, but was later found and released from police custody without charges, police said. The gun was found at the scene and taken into evidence.
Paramedics took the child to Comer Children’s Hospital in critical condition, Hudson said.
Detectives were investigating, but no charges were pending, police said.
Please check back for updates.
