14-Year-Old Boy Shot Near South Side High School
Updated 09/13/13 - 11:23 a.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 14-year-old boy was recovering Friday morning, after he was shot in the back outside a South Side high school.
CBS 2's Susanna Song reports Javier Cameron was shot in the 7700 block of South Homan Avenue around 7:45 p.m. Thursday.
His mother, Carmelita Rice, said Javier had been playing with friends at a park near Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy, and had walked two girls home. On the way back, he was approached by two young men.
Two teens, possibly gang members, approached Javier from an alley, and asked him if he was affiliated with a particular gang. When he said no, one of the boys didn't believe him, and punched him, Rice said.
When Javier tried to fight back, the same boy took out a gun, and tried to shoot Javier twice, but the gun jammed.
"Immediately went to shoot him. I mean, it's not like no aim, or nothing, anything. He just immediately went to shoot, and the gun jammed. My son said he heard it click, so we figure that was the gun jamming, and he heard another click, so he thought it was a cap gun," Rice said.
As Javier ran away, the gunman shot him in the back.
"My son, when he took off and started running, is when the guy shot a third time, and hit him in the lower back," Rice said.
His mother said Javier is a freshman honor student and basketball player at Ralph Ellison High School, and also has signed up to play football.
"He's a great kid. He's not affiliated with any gang at all. I'm not one of them parents that's in denial," she said.
She said her son asked her if he'd be able to play basketball again after the shooting. Luckily for him, he is expected to make a full recovery.
Javier was in serious condition Friday morning at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. The bullet was still lodged in his back.
Rice is a member of New Beginnings Church, where pastor Rev. Corey Brooks has been working to raise money for a new community center designed to offer kids in Woodlawn and Englewood an alternative to gangs and the danger of gun violence.
"Unfortunately, this happens in our neighborhood far too often, but we've got to continue to do everything we can do to make sure that we get rid of this type of violence," Brooks said.
Police said no one was in custody for the shooting as of Friday morning.
