A 15-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man were left in critical condition Saturday morning after a shooting near East 50th Place and South Vincennes Avenue in Washington Park. The man was shot in the head, while the boy was shot in the stomach, according to Chicago police.
Chicago police officers responded to the scene in the Washington Park neighborhood on Saturday, according to ABC7 Chicago. Police say both the man and the boy were critically injured in the shooting. The 19-year-old was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he remains in critical condition, while the teen was taken to Comer Children's Hospital, also listed in critical condition.
Witness Describes Car Driving Erratically Before Crash
A witness told the station the two victims had been riding in a car that was driving erratically moments before it crashed, the station's report notes. The exact circumstances tying that crash to the gunfire have not been detailed by authorities. Area One detectives are now investigating the shooting, and officials said there were no other injuries reported in connection with the incident.
No additional information was immediately available as of Saturday morning, per the same account. It remains unclear what led to the shooting or who was responsible, and police have not released further details about a suspect or motive.
Washington Park's Violent Summer Still Looms Large
Washington Park's Violent Summer Still Looms Large Saturday's shooting lands in a neighborhood already reeling from a violent year.
The neighborhood was also the site of a separate, much larger mass shooting in August, when 15 people were shot and one person was killed in what became the largest mass shooting Chicago saw this year, according to the Tribune's reporting. Victims in that earlier shooting ranged in age from 21 to 47, and as of Aug. 31, no one had been arrested while Wentworth area detectives continued investigating, the Tribune said. A related account from Block Club Chicago described a shooting near the 5400 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue around 11:30 p.m. that same Saturday night, which left one person dead and 14 others wounded. Those incidents remain distinct from Saturday's shooting near 50th and Vincennes.
Citywide Gun Violence Trends Offer a Mixed Picture
Citywide Gun Violence Trends Offer a Mixed Picture Despite the violence concentrated in pockets like Washington Park, broader data suggests improvement elsewhere in the city. More than 85% of Chicago police districts saw fewer gunshot victimizations in 2025 compared with 2024, according to a year-end analysis from the University of Chicago Crime Lab. Chicago also saw broad declines in gun violence in 2025.
That uneven progress underscores why a single Saturday morning shooting can carry outsized weight in a neighborhood still grappling with last summer's violence. For now, the 15-year-old and 19-year-old remain hospitalized in critical condition, and Area One detectives continue working to determine what happened near 50th and Vincennes.
