CHICAGO — A man was shot and a 9-year-old girl was grazed by a bullet when at least two gunmen opened fire near William C. Goudy Technology Academy, 5120 N Winthrop, in Uptown on Friday afternoon.
The victims were standing near a sidewalk south of the school’s playlot when the gunmen began firing around 3:25 p.m. Witnesses reported seeing children running for safety and two shooters leaving the area: one who left on foot and another who jumped into a car that sped away.
The adult victim sought help inside the school, prompting the principal to put the facility on a precautionary, temporary hard lockdown, according to an individual familiar with the matter.
Chicago police said the male victim was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in good condition with a gunshot wound to his arm. The girl was taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital in good condition.
About 30 shell casings littered the area, some in the 5000 block of North Winthrop, others in an alley on that block, and still more in the 1000 block of West Winona.
On Thursday morning, the local alderman, Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth, broke her self-imposed silence about crime in the neighborhood, saying she had become “outraged and disheartened” by shootings in the area. Three people have been shot in her ward since then.
“People are leaving Edgewater because they don’t feel safe,” the alderman told Block Club Chicago earlier this week, “and we can’t afford to lose more people.”
She echoed those thoughts after Friday’s shooting.
“We don’t want people to leave. We want people to stay,” she said. “When you feel unsafe, then it’s going to be easier for you to move.”
So far this year, 25 people have been shot in her ward. That’s about twice the number seen in the second-worst year, 2022.
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