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Police Officer Shoots Teen In South Chicago

Updated 08/21/15 - 11:24 a.m.

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 14-year-old boy was in the hospital early Friday, after Chicago police shot him when he allegedly refused to drop a weapon in the South Chicago neighborhood.

Around 10:30 p.m. Thursday, police responded to a report of shots fired by two suspects on bicycles in the 8900 block of South Escanaba Avenue.

When officers arrived, they were able to stop one of the suspects, but as they tried to question him, they noticed a bulge in his pocket. When they asked him about it, he ran off.

Officers began chasing him, and soon noticed he was now carrying the gun. Police said he ignored repeated commands to drop the weapon.

"After repeated attempts to stop, and to drop the weapon, the subject refused. One officer shot the offender, striking him once in the leg," Chicago Police Cmdr. Christopher Fletcher said.

Police said the gun was recovered at the scene.

The 14-year-old was taken to the University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital. His mother, Ikyshia Webber, says the teen was expected to be transferred to a hospital in a juvenile detention facility. She tells CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot the boy has not been in trouble with the law previously.

His stepfather, Timothy Gilmore, said the bullet passed through both of the boy's legs.

"The only thing I know that it went through the left leg, exited the left leg, and went through the right thigh, exited the right leg," he said.

 

The other suspect has not been caught.

Meantime, the injured teen's 18-year-old brother, Donzell Lightfoot, was due to appear in bond court on Friday, for allegedly punching an officer in the head and damaging a police vehicle, after officers blocked him from entering the crime scene. Webber said he was just trying to cross a police line to check on his brother, as he laid on the ground, bleeding.

Lightfoot has been charged with one felony count of aggravated battery, and one misdemeanor count each of disobeying a police officer, resisting or obstructing a police officer, and criminal property damage.

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