Mother, daughter shot as attackers try to force their way into home

A Mother, daughter shot as attackers try to force their way into home

woman and her daughter were shot as more than a dozen young men threw bricks through the windows of their Far South Side home and tried to force their way in Thursday night, Chicago police said.


The mother, 41, had tried to block the group at the gate of the home, then tried to bar them from the front door when she was shot, according to police and witnesses.

"That's when you heard it. Pow, pow, pow," said Ruthie Patterson, a relative who had just arrived in the 600 block of East 92nd Place around 5:50 p.m. "I laid down. There were at least 30 shots."

The mother was shot in the neck and the daughter, 19, suffered three wounds to her torso and one to the leg, police said. They were both taken in critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said.

The incident started when "about 15" young men showed up at the home, Patterson said. The mother began to argue with them, then blocked the gates of her house so they couldn't get through.

One of them told her, "Let's box," Patterson said. "Dude picked up a brick and busted the windows."

A few of the men tried to jump through the broken windows while the mother hurried to block the front door, she said.

Patterson said she entered the house after the gunfire and the men had fled. She ran toward the mother, realizing she had been shot near her chin, and grabbed a towel and urged her to sit down.

Patterson said she pressed the towel against the woman's jaw and watched blood drip from her mouth and seep through the cloth. She then heard a noise around the corner.

"'I heard (the daughter) say, 'I'm hit!' " Patterson said. "And then I saw her and she was on the ground."

The family said they have been involved in an ongoing argument with young men across the street since moving to the block about three months ago. Police did not say what sparked the fight, and no one was reported in custody.

The mother and daughter were among at least eight shot, two fatally, since Thursday morning.

A 21-year-old man was found shot dead in West Englewood early Thursday, police said. Just before 5:25 a.m., police were called to the 5600 block of South Seeley Avenue found the man with a gunshot wound to the head, according to police.

The man was identified as Shaquille Alexander, of the 2700 block of West 61st Street, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. He was pronounced dead at 5:54 a.m. on the scene.

The other fatal shooting occurred about 9:20 p.m. in the South Austin neighborhood. Police responded to a call of a person shot in the 5600 block of West Chicago Avenue and found a 54-year-old man shot in the chest. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and pronounced dead.

Other shootings:

• About 10:45 p.m. on the West Side, a 60-year-old man was shot in the right arm after three men took his wallet and cellphone, police said. The man was taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, and his condition was stabilized. The man told police three men approached him in the 200 block of North Parkside Avenue in the Austin neighborhood, took his belongings and then shot him.

• About 5:30 p.m. on the South Side, two men, 21 and 25, were shot in the 700 block of West 65th Street. They suffered leg wounds after someone in a passing gray car fired toward them, police said. The 21-year-old was taken to Stroger Hospital, and the 25-year-old was taken to St. Bernard Hospital.

• Between 4 and 4:30 p.m. on the Northwest Side, a 19-year-old man was shot while walking in the 5300 block of West Cuyler Avenue in the Portage Park neighborhood. He took himself to Community First Medical Center, and he's in good condition.

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