A boy is dead after Bellwood police say he was shot and reportedly thrown from a car Tuesday, prompting officers to take three people into custody as detectives work to piece together what happened. Police responded around 3:20 p.m. Tuesday at 22nd Avenue and Adams Street and found the juvenile suffering from gunshot wounds, according to investigators.
Bellwood Fire Department crews transported the boy to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, as reported by ABC7 Chicago. The outlet reports that three people are now in custody in connection with the shooting, though police have not detailed what role each person is believed to have played. Authorities have not released the boy's name or age, and the circumstances that led to the shooting were not immediately clear.
Detectives processed the scene Tuesday evening and continued interviewing multiple witnesses as the investigation moved forward, the station notes. No additional information was immediately available as of early Wednesday.
A Western Cook County Suburb on Edge
The shooting unfolded in Bellwood, a compact 2.4-square-mile village in Proviso Township roughly 13 miles west of Chicago's Loop that recorded a population of 18,789 in the 2020 U.S. Census, according to Wikipedia.
The boy's death marks a fatal Bellwood shooting Hoodline has reported, after a man and a woman were killed in an overnight street shooting in June. Hoodline also reported in June that the victims were taken to Loyola University Medical Center.
Hospital Named in June Shooting
Victims of a June Bellwood shooting were taken to Loyola University Medical Center in neighboring Maywood. The boy was taken to a local hospital after Tuesday's shooting, according to ABC7.
What Comes Next for the Three in Custody
Under Illinois' accountability statute, 720 ILCS 5/5-2, prosecutors can charge all three people now in custody with first-degree murder even if only one of them fired the shot, so long as they intentionally aided, abetted, or agreed to facilitate the offense, according to FindLaw. Investigators have not said what specific roles they believe the three people played.
The case adds to a string of violent crime prosecutions involving Bellwood residents this year. In September, Hoodline reported that a DuPage County jury convicted a 25-year-old Bellwood man of first-degree murder in a 2021 fatal shooting tied to an illegal gun transaction in Naperville, a verdict that carries a potential life sentence.
No further details about the boy's identity, the suspects' identities, or a possible motive had been released as detectives continued their investigation into Tuesday's shooting.
