It was just after 8 a.m. on Wednesday when residents in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side awoke to what would become another heartbreaking headline. Police responded to reports of gunfire at the 8100 block of South Marshfield Avenue and found a scene that will stay with many in the area for a long time.
As officers arrived inside the multi-unit building, they discovered a 16-year-old boy on a second-floor back porch, unresponsive and suffering multiple gunshot wounds to the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Nearby, on a hallway floor inside the same complex, lay a 17-year-old boy with gunshot wounds to the head and chest; he too was declared dead before he could be transported to hospital.
The violence didn’t end there. A 21-year-old man, hiding beneath a bed inside one of the apartments, was found with a gunshot wound to his arm. He was rushed to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where his condition was listed as fair. Inside the same residence, a 13-year-old boy was present and thankfully emerged unharmed.
Detectives say the building was littered with evidence of the early morning attack: shell casings strewn throughout the space and pools of blood in more than one room. Neighbors described hearing gunshots somewhere between 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., rushing to gather their children and pray until the noise settled. One witness said they saw three men sprint away from the building right after the shooting.
The identities of the two teenage victims are being withheld, as the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office works through the required family notifications. At this time, no arrests have been made. Investigators with the Chicago Police Department’s Area Two unit are leading the probe and urging anyone with information to come forward.
Community leaders on the scene expressed a deep sadness and frustration. Local pastor Donovan Price described the building as a three-floor dwelling where “a child has been killed and the scene stretches all three floors of the building.” He lamented how this happened on a school day morning — a time when families are getting ready for work and classes, not running for cover.
For the residents of Auburn Gresham, this shooting marks the third incident in less than 24 hours with multiple teenage victims — three of whom have died. The shock is compounded by weariness that these acts of violence, so often happening in familiar spaces, may soon become part of the everyday landscape. As police remain on the scene and canvass the neighborhood, they continue to ask for tips and video from early-morning hours, acknowledging that someone, somewhere, saw something that could help. This time, the toll is young.