By Andrea Cavallier, Senior Reporter at Dailymail.Com
21:51 June 04, 2023, updated 21:51 June 04, 2023
- Video shows the group sneaking through a vacant lot in a Chicago neighborhood.
- At least two suspects begin firing into a crowd with machine gun-like weapons
- 14-year-old Pierre Johnson was murdered; two men, ages 18 and 19, were seriously injured; a 21-year-old woman was also shot in the hand
A new video shows the terrifying moment when a group of people armed with ‘machine gun style’ weapons unleashed several rounds of gunfire in a Chicago neighborhood, killing a 14-year-old boy and wounding three other victims.
Four suspects were seen in security footage obtained by C.W.B. Chicago stealthily walking across a vacant lot Wednesday night before surrounding a building and firing his weapons into the crowd.
Pierre Johnson, 14, who was staying at a family friend’s house in the area to avoid violence in his neighborhood, was killed in the shooting.
An 18-year-old man was shot in the back and a 19-year-old man was shot in the chest and leg. Both are at the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition. A 21-year-old woman was shot in the hand. The injured victims were not identified.
In the video, four suspects wearing hoodies were seen running across the grassy lot to the Wells Street side around 8:20 p.m. on June 1.
They quickly ducked behind a bush as a vehicle passed by on the street, and then got up and ran down the sidewalk, while at least two of the subjects fired their weapons at people outside the video screen.
The weapons used in the shooting are believed to be pistols with ‘Glock switches’, which police explained are illegal accessories that allow the weapons to hold expanded magazines with up to 50 rounds. The devices are prohibited by state and federal laws.
When police responded to the scene in the 4200 block of South Wells, a 16-year-old boy reportedly opened fire on the police officers and they fired back.
“That armed felon then discharged his firearm in the direction of the officers,” police said in a statement. ‘An officer returned fire and the offender fled and was apprehended a short time later. The offender was found to have a gunshot wound to the leg.
The teen had a gunshot wound to the leg, police said, but said it was not immediately clear if police had shot him or had been shot in the earlier shooting.
The incident is being investigated by the Civilian Office for Police Accountability and the two officers involved have been assigned to routine administrative duties.
The teen, who police believe was possibly one of the gunmen, was arrested and charged with six counts of attempted first-degree murder of law enforcement officers, three counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle and unlawful use of a weapon by a person under the age of 21.
Police have not released the motive for the shooting. Two weapons were found at the scene and recovered by police.
Pierre Johnson, the 14-year-old teenager killed in the shooting, lived with family friend Chris Cozzi and their children on weekends, trying to avoid violence in their neighborhood, ABC7 Chicago reported.
‘He had a very good heart. She would have done great things. He would have been a great man,’ Cozzi said.
“In Chicago, I think anywhere, it takes a town to raise children,” he continued. “It wasn’t that Pierre didn’t have enough love on the block where he lived with his great-grandmother, it was that there was too much violence on that block, so he came to stay with us.”
The teen was a little brother to the Charros baseball team and always found happiness on the baseball field, his loved ones said.
“I think he just wanted to be happy and feel safe and loved,” Cozzi said. “He felt loved, but he didn’t feel safe.”
The shooting is just one of 887 shootings in the city so far this year through May 28 of this year, though the number is a six percent drop from the 937 shootings at the same time last year, according to Chicago police statistics.
