Englewood Drive-By Wounds 11-Year-Old, Two Men Riding in White SUV

An 11-year-old boy and two men were shot Monday afternoon after a black sedan chased down the white SUV they were riding in and opened fire on Chicago's Englewood neighborhood, according to Chicago police. The shooting happened around 4:30 p.m. on the 1900 block of West 70th Street, leaving a 46-year-old man in critical condition and sending the boy and a 45-year-old man to the hospital with less severe injuries.

According to CBS Chicago, the attackers were riding in a black sedan that pursued the victims' white SUV before opening fire multiple times. Chicago police said unknown occupants shot at the SUV repeatedly before fleeing the scene in an unknown direction. Area 1 detectives are now investigating the attack, though it remains unclear whether the SUV was specifically targeted or what prompted the pursuit.

The 46-year-old man was shot in multiple areas of his body and was listed in critical condition, the outlet's report notes. The 45-year-old man was shot in his back and was in good condition, while the 11-year-old boy suffered a graze wound to his lower body and was listed in fair condition. Police reported no other injuries from the shooting.

A Community Hospital Detour Before Trauma Care

Both the 45-year-old and the 46-year-old self-transported to Holy Cross Hospital before being taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, per the same account. Sinai Chicago records show Mount Sinai operates a dedicated Level 1 Trauma Center, while Holy Cross functions as a community hospital without that designation, according to Frontiers. That sequence reflects a familiar pattern on the South Side, where non-trauma safety-net hospitals often stabilize gunshot victims before transferring them to regional trauma hubs better equipped to treat severe wounds. The 11-year-old boy, meanwhile, was taken directly to Holy Cross Hospital.

The shooting adds to a string of vehicle-involved attacks Hoodline has tracked across Englewood and West Englewood in recent days on the South Side, including a shooting that killed a 30-year-old man in neighboring West Englewood one day earlier and a case in which a wounded teen passenger was rushed to Stroger Hospital after gunfire sprayed a car on Hirsch Street. Earlier this month, a man was shot in the head and killed on an Englewood block that has seen years of violence, and another Englewood shooting on West 73rd Street left one dead and two injured. This pattern of drive-by attacks targeting moving vehicles, often striking juveniles riding alongside adults, has repeated itself across the neighborhood in recent weeks.

Citywide Numbers Tell a Mixed Story

Chicago Police Department statistics reported by WTTW News show the city recorded 210 homicides and 686 shooting incidents through the first six months of 2026, a 6% and 4% increase respectively over the same period in 2025. Even so, overall totals remain well below pandemic-era peaks. A July WTTW News poll found that more than half of Black and Hispanic Chicago residents felt violent crime had increased in their communities, exposing a gap between citywide statistical trends and how safe residents actually feel.

Police also face structural constraints in responding to shootings like Monday's. Public safety data from early 2026 indicated CPD maintained a sworn headcount of roughly 11,600 to 11,900 officers, according to Omnilert, leaving the department as much as 2,000 officers below full operational staffing models. The city's ShotSpotter gunshot detection contract expired in September 2024 and was not renewed, meaning police increasingly rely on 911 calls, witness reports, and hospital self-transports — like those seen in Monday's shooting — to identify where gunfire occurred.

City and County Officials Respond to Rising Concern

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson issued an executive order in June establishing a municipal Office of Gun Violence Reduction to coordinate community safety strategies and violence interrupter programs in high-risk neighborhoods, per WTTW News. That same month, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced $20 million in county funding for community violence intervention grants directed to street outreach organizations working across South and West Side neighborhoods.

No arrests have been announced in connection with Monday's shooting, and it remains unclear whether Area 1 detectives have recovered surveillance footage or ballistic evidence from the scene. Under Illinois law, knowingly discharging a firearm at or into an occupied vehicle constitutes Aggravated Discharge of a Firearm, a Class 1 felony punishable by four to 15 years in prison, according to the Law Office of Clyde Guilamo. If a suspect under 21 is later found to have carried a loaded firearm in a vehicle, that alone can carry an additional charge, as Hoodline has previously reported — aggravated unlawful use of a weapon by someone under 21 is a Class 4 felony carrying one to three years in prison.