A 14-year-old boy was shot in the leg Saturday afternoon in an alley on Chicago's West Side. He was taken to a hospital and listed in good condition, police said.
The shooting happened at about 1:28 p.m. in the 4100 block of West 21st Place, according to ABC7 Chicago. Police told the station that two other people approached the teen while he was in the alley, and at least one of them pulled out a handgun and opened fire. The boy was struck in the leg before being taken to the hospital.
Investigation Remains Open
Chicago police said they are investigating the shooting.
This is not the first time a 14-year-old has been shot in North Lawndale this year. Back in March, a boy of the same age was wounded in the wrist during an argument on the West Side, when the other party in the dispute pulled a gun, fired, and fled, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. That victim was treated at Humboldt Park Health and was also listed in good condition.
Other Shootings
In June, three teenagers were shot during a large gathering on South Christiana Avenue, with a 19-year-old man hit in the groin and forearm and two young women, ages 19 and 18, wounded in the buttocks, per the Chicago Tribune's reporting on the incident. All three were listed in good or serious condition at the time.
More recently, a man was killed in a North Lawndale shooting in mid-September, the Sun-Times reported.
Citywide Numbers Tell a Mixed Story
Zooming out, Chicago's overall gun violence picture has been improving. Shootings and homicides citywide remained far lower so far in 2026 than they were in 2022, and the city's gun violence rate had dropped to a ten-year low in 2025, according to the Chicago Tribune. But that progress has not been even across the city. The Tribune reported that Area 1 on the city's South Side saw a 68% jump in homicides compared with the same period last year, and the Deering District recorded 60 shootings since the start of 2026 alongside a 183% increase in homicides versus 2025.
Northwestern University sociologist Andrew Papachristos has noted that shootings involving multiple victims can push up the number of people wounded even when the number of individual attacks doesn't rise — essentially, more people wounded in fewer attacks.
No further updates on the 14-year-old's condition or the status of the investigation have been released. Anyone with information has not yet been given a specific avenue to come forward, according to the available reporting.
