Detectives are questioning a 'person of interest' after an 8-year-old boy was killed and a 5-year-old boy was injured in a shooting Thursday evening on the South Side.
No charges have been announced.
The boys were shot while in a home in the 1400 block of East 71st Place about 5:20 p.m., Chicago police said. Both were taken to Comer Children's Hospital.
Josiah Hooker, 8, suffered a gunshot wound to his head and was pronounced dead at 5:44 p.m., police and the Cook County medical examiner's office said. The younger boy suffered a graze wound to his head and was in good condition.
An autopsy Friday that would determine the cause and manner of the boy's death was inconclusive, pending a police investigation, according to the medical examiner's office.
Chicago police officers on the scene did not comment. They were seen detaining a man whose hands and pants were covered in blood. Neighbors said the man is a relative of the two boys who were shot. A woman seen being questioned by police is also a relative, neighbors said.
The boys who were shot were seen playing with other kids who live in the area shortly before the shooting, neighbors said. It wasn't immediately clear what led to the shooting.
Red crime scene tape hung off of fences and wrapped around a tree Friday morning.
Cliff Forde was inside his home at the time of the shooting when he heard screaming and crying coming from outside.
"It's definitely disheartening," Forde, 38, said. "I'm praying for the family and hoping that everything is the best that it could be for them going forward."
Forde saw "about 30 officers and an ambulance" as residents — many of them children — gathered to see what was happening.
Forde, who has lived in the area for about six years, didn’t know the boys directly but often saw them playing football at an empty lot across the street from his home.
"It's unfortunate," Forde said as he stared at the lot where the kids played.
Contributing: Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere
