1 Dead, 7 Wounded In West Side Shooting
CHICAGO (STMW) -- A man was killed and seven others were wounded in a drive-by shooting Saturday on Chicago's West Side that the police said was gang-related.
A 72-year-old woman was among the wounded, according to the police, who said she was shot in an ankle and was not among the most seriously injured.
The man killed, identified as 49-year-old Terry Patterson, was shot in the chest and groin and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:26 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
The 72-year-old woman was taken to Stroger Hospital, along with a 42-year-old woman who was shot twice in the right thigh, a 43-year-old man shot in the leg and back, and a 45-year-old man shot in the groin, police said. A 31-year-old man shot in the wrist was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, police said. A 20-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to the right leg showed up at Mount Sinai Hospital.
"It's crazy," said Rashauda Tolbert, a niece of the dead man. "Kids can't play outside. People can't sit on their porches.
"The shooting has been going on for days," said Tolbert, who she was on her way to her security job when she heard about what happened and rushed back to her family. "Why we gotta be prisoners in our homes?"
A detective on the scene said the shooting was gang-related, apparently related to a shooting on July 4.
This time, whoever pulled the trigger sprayed bullets across what appeared to be a large area. Yellow evidence markers stretched across an area of more than a block.
The shooting happened just before 6 p.m. on West Flournoy Street at South Francisco Avenue.
Police and family members gathered at a house around the corner from where the shooting took place.
"He's just a nice guy," said a woman who identified herself only as Patterson's sister-in-law.
She said the area has been the scene of much recent violence.
"They just been coming around here, shooting, for the last three days," she said.
Patterson's 6-year-old grandson Kion said his grandpa was a handy guy who fixed bikes, stereos and other things around the house.
Kion said his grandpa would give him money so he could buy chips and other snacks.
"He gave me money so I could buy stuff," the boy said when asked what his favorite thing about his grandfather was.
Other relatives said Patterson was a lifelong West Sider who was known for walking around the neighborhood blasting Sam Cooke from a "big radio."
His sister Darlene Patterson said her brother was on disability and liked to help people, doing things like watching their kids for them.
She said he was a "good man" who didn't deserve to die the way he did.
"It's senseless that innocent people gotta die," she said.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
