A 13-year-old boy was beaten unconscious in broad daylight outside the After School Matters facility at Gately Park last Saturday, according to his mother, Tiffany Taylor. She said he suffered a brain injury, deep wounds on the right side of his face and blindness in one eye. Cellphone video of the assault, which happened near 102nd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago's Pullman neighborhood, shows several children kicking, punching and stomping on the boy after he was knocked out.
The boy had traveled to the park with three friends for a job interview when the attack unfolded, CBS News Chicago reported. Taylor said one of his companions noticed a group of youths inside the facility using cellphones and allegedly coordinating the attack before it moved outside. She also said other parents were nearby waiting to pick up their children when the beating occurred.
Taylor is seeking accountability for those involved. Her son is relearning speech and basic motor skills, including texting, and is being sent to a rehabilitation facility, CBS reported.
Video Shared With Local Violence Interrupters
Taylor shared footage of the beating with Chitown Crime Chasers, a community organization founded by violence interrupter Justin Peters that conducts neighborhood outreach and monitors youth violence across the city. Peters, who has previously helped victims of youth mob violence — including rendering emergency aid to a teen knocked unconscious during a mass fight in downtown Chicago last March, as reported by WHMI — called the Gately Park attack horrific and said nobody deserved what happened to the boy.
After School Matters said the children seen attacking the boy are not affiliated with its program and that the assault occurred across the street from its facility rather than inside it. The organization said its Gately Park location is a wing of the field house operated by the Chicago Park District, according to its facility information. After School Matters said its security and staff were notified of the altercation and called police immediately, though it was unsure whether its security cameras captured the incident.
A Major Youth Hub With a Troubled Recent History
The After School Matters wing at Gately Park, at 10201 S. Cottage Grove Ave., opened in July 2021 as part of a $53.67 million, 139,000-square-foot park complex featuring a 24,000-square-foot space dedicated to South Side youth programming, according to McHugh Construction. The nonprofit itself provides paid stipends and hands-on programming in arts, STEM and sports to more than 18,000 Chicago teenagers annually across 72 of the city's 77 community areas, per its own account of its operations.
Gately Park has seen violence before. In August 2024, a 15-year-old boy was seriously injured in a shooting in the Gately Park Stadium parking lot during a back-to-school event, according to ABC7 Chicago. The campus, located at 102nd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, falls under the jurisdiction of the Chicago Police Department's 5th District, headquartered at 727 E. 111th St. on the Far South Side.
Gately Park in context
The publicly documented incidents differ in both circumstances and location: the August 2024 case involved a shooting that seriously injured a 15-year-old in the Gately Park Stadium parking lot during a back-to-school event, while the current case involves an alleged group beating near the After School Matters facility. The available accounts do not establish whether the incidents are connected. The broader citywide trend also does not provide a direct measure of violence at Gately Park. According to the City of Chicago's 2025 Youth Impact Report, youth homicides declined 23% and total non-fatal shooting victimizations fell nearly 29% in 2025. Those annual citywide figures cannot by themselves determine how this assault fits into conditions at one park or be directly compared with a non-fatal group beating.
Potential Felony Charges Under Illinois Law
Police responded quickly to Saturday's attack and attended to the boy, and detectives are now investigating. Under Illinois law, battery causing great bodily harm or occurring on public park or school grounds can be charged as Class 3 felony aggravated battery, carrying a potential two- to five-year prison sentence, according to the Illinois General Assembly. Separately, two or more people who knowingly use force or violence to disturb the public peace can be charged with mob action, a Class 4 felony carrying one to three years in prison under state statute.
It remains unclear whether investigators have identified specific suspects from the video footage, or whether the Chicago Police Department or Chicago Park District will increase security patrols around Gately Park during youth program hours. For now, Taylor is focused on her son's recovery as he prepares to relearn basic skills at a rehabilitation facility.
