Chicago police shot and killed a 16-year-old boy as he hid under a car in the Gresham neighborhood, one of five people shot by officers in the city over 36 hours, according to authorities.
Police were called to 87th and Morgan streets around 6:30 p.m. Saturday when someone called 911 and said someone had been firing shots in the area, Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden said at the scene.
Officers started chasing someone who matched the caller's description but lost him for a few minutes when he ducked into a gangway between Morgan and Sangamon Avenue, Camden said.
The suspect tried to blend in at a party in the 8700 block of South Morgan Street but left and jumped a fence when the people at the party started complaining, police said.
The boy then hid under a car as officers caught up with him, police said. He began getting out from under the car and the officers told him to drop the gun, Camden said. He did not and the officers shot him, Camden said.
Police recovered a small .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun at the scene, Camden said.
Friends and family at the scene identified the boy as Warren Robinson, and said he was three days away from his 17th birthday. They said they had heard conflicting versions of what happened from neighbors and questioned the police account.
"The police killed him," said Robinson's mother, Georgina Utendahl, who said officers would give her no information about the shooting. "Why they killed him, I don't know.
"We want answers. We've been up here since 7," she said. "I asked if he's DOA, they said, 'It's not promising.' He had no I.D. We don't know if they moved him. I can't see him. I'm trying to figure out why we can't see him."
A woman who lives on the block, Keiyana Hawkins, said she went outside to search for her children after she heard gunfire. She said she saw a young man running and surrendering with raised hands when a police officer opened fired.
Utendahl said her son liked to dance and had a sense of humor. He was the oldest of five children.
Willy Glenn, 17, said friends were planning a birthday party for Robinson. He said Robinson had a great sense of humor. "He was always laughing," Glenn said.
She acknowledged that he'd had trouble with the law but didn't think he was a "notorious gangster."
The boy would sometimes accompany his grandmother to church, his family said.
"He was a good young man," Utendahl said. "He didn't deserve to be gunned down."
Earlier in the evening, police shot a man around 9 p.m. in the 7000 block of South Hermitage Avenue, according to police.
Officers were trying to interview people drinking on a porch when one of them took off running and officers chased him, police said in a statement.
The man pulled a gun from his waistband while he was running, according to a statement from the Police Department.
Officers opened fire after the man turned toward them and pointed the gun, police said. His condition was not known.
On Friday, Chicago police shot three men in the Portage Park, Rogers Park and Englewood neighborhoods.
Copyright 2014 - Chicago Tribune
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
