Dana Pulliam rushed her youngest son out Monday morning so he could make it to school on time after the long holiday break.
Minutes later, the 16-year-old called his mom to say that he had been shot.
“I heard the shots like five minutes after he had left, and then he was calling me screaming saying he was shot,” Pulliam said. “I ran right across to the school, and when I got there they were applying pressure to his wound.”
The teenager was walking through Douglass Park and had almost made it to North Lawndale College Prep on the West Side when shots were fired from a passing black Ford Explorer about 9:30 a.m. near the 1200 block of South Albany Avenue, Chicago police said.
The teen had gunshot wounds to the left ring finger and right thigh, officials said.
North Lawndale College Prep officials said a group of students were in the area and fled when the shots were fired.
Most kids ran into the school, including the boy who was shot, officials said. Staff called an ambulance, police said, and he was listed in good condition at Mount Sinai Hospital.
The school went on a soft lockdown, and administrators worked with Chicago Public Schools officials to bring in more social workers and counselors to support students. The school also increased the police and security presence outside the campus.
Pulliam said this is the third time one of her children has been hurt in a drive-by shooting. Her oldest son, now 20, was wounded when he was only 7 years old and then again at 17.
“To have this happen to me for a third time, I’m emotional and I’m traumatized,” she said.
Pulliam said police told her they had a suspect in custody Monday night, but no charges had been filed.
Her son’s back was turned during the shooting, and he was able to describe the vehicle but not the shooter, she said.
“He’s hurt physically and mentally, but he’s OK,” Pulliam said.
The shooting is the latest in a spate of incidents near Chicago schools the past few years.
An analysis by WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times showed a spike in fatal shootings near schools in 2022, when nine children were killed on a weekday in the hours that students head home — between 2 and 4:49 p.m. That does not count a 17-year-old Kenwood Academy student who was killed while on his lunch break or a shooting outside Schurz High School that left a teenager critically hurt.
The city reeled from a shooting on school grounds last December, when two boys were killed and two other teens wounded outside Benito Juarez Community Academy just after classes let out for the day.
Schools citywide have tried to help students deescalate conflicts and heal from the severe trauma that gun violence causes. At North Lawndale College Prep, a group of students called the Peace Warriors have worked to resist and prevent violence by learning nonviolence techniques to prevent fights, break them up and start peace circles to help students through difficult times.
