A 15-year-old boy was shot in the leg Wednesday afternoon after getting into a physical altercation with an armed male on South Muskegon Avenue in Chicago's South Chicago neighborhood, according to police. The teen was hospitalized in good condition, and as of Wednesday night, no one had been arrested.
Police said the boy was in a physical altercation with an armed male whose age was not known in the 8900 block of South Muskegon Avenue at 1:43 p.m., according to the Chicago Sun-Times. During the confrontation, the teen was shot in his left thigh. He was taken to Comer Children's Hospital, where he was listed in good condition.
No one is in custody, and the investigation remains ongoing, the outlet reported. Authorities have not released a description of the shooter or disclosed what sparked the altercation.
A Stretch of Muskegon Avenue With a Violent History
Wednesday's shooting is not the first time gunfire has erupted along South Muskegon Avenue. In February 2021, three people were shot in the South Shore neighborhood after a 24-year-old woman got into an argument in the 7800 block of South Muskegon Avenue with someone who pulled out a gun and opened fire, per the same Chicago news outlet's earlier reporting.
Teenagers getting shot after altercations with armed individuals has occurred elsewhere in Chicago in recent years, though none of these cases are known to be connected to Wednesday's shooting. A 15-year-old boy was shot in the thigh in the Austin neighborhood after a verbal altercation turned violent, according to FOX 32 Chicago. In a separate case, a 15-year-old was shot in the leg outside a restaurant in West Garfield Park on Sept. 1 at around 11:16 p.m., as reported by ABC7 Chicago; two 15-year-old boys were later arrested and charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery in that case.
Part of a Broader Pattern on Chicago's South Side
The South Chicago police district was one of just two Chicago patrol districts to see shooting incidents rise from 2022 to 2023, even as nonfatal shootings fell citywide by about 13% over the same period, according to a Chicago Tribune report. That same report found that 55 children age 17 and younger had been shot to death in Chicago since the start of 2023, compared with 66 juveniles killed in all of 2022, and documented 12 children between ages 10 and 17 shot across the city in less than two weeks that fall, including a 14-year-old shot on the 7600 block of South Chicago Avenue.
Young victims have also made up a disproportionate share of the city's most severe gun violence. An analysis by WBEZ found that 53% of Chicago's mass shootings since 2010 involved at least one victim younger than 20, with 239 of the 449 citywide mass shootings counted since then involving a victim under 20. Nearly three-fourths of those mass shootings occurred in just 16 communities concentrated on the South and West sides, WBEZ reported.
Police have not released further details about Wednesday's shooting, and the identity and age of the armed male involved in the altercation remain unknown. Anyone with information has not been given a tip line in the available reporting, and the investigation continues.
