Man charged with shooting and critically injuring 25-year-old near migrant shelter in Woodlawn
A man has been charged with aggravated battery for shooting a 25-year-old and leaving him in critical condition in the Woodlawn neighborhood Friday night.
Shortly after 7:30 p.m. on Friday, police responded to reports of a person shot at the 6400 block of South University Avenue. A migrant shelter is located at 6420 S. University Ave., inside the former Wadsworth Elementary School.
The 25-year-old, who had been shot in the abdomen and lower back, was transported to nearby University of Chicago Medical Center.
Cleber Fernandez, 26, was arrested in the 6600 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue Friday at 8:05 p.m. after a search of the immediate area. He was charged Sunday with one felony count of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm.
In a police statement, Fernandez’s address is listed as the 6400 block of South University Avenue. He is due in court for a detention hearing on Monday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.
The shelter at former Wadsworth Elementary has encountered continued resistance from neighbors since it was transformed into temporary housing for migrants earlier this year.
On July 14, a physical altercation and subsequent vandalism at the shelter led the city to expel 17 migrants from the shelter and permanently ban four of them from the system. At a follow-up community meeting with city officials, Woodlawn residents’ grievances included claims of migrants loitering, littering and participating in illicit activities such as drug use and prostitution.
